Traffic on Dhaka streets was thin on Saturday morning as police continued checking people and transports by setting up checkpoints at the entrances of the Bangladesh capital in view of the day’s opposition rallies.
Checkpoints were set up at Ashulia, Hemayetpur and Aminbazar of Savar for third consecutive day on Saturday.
Readymade garment worker Md Shafiq said that there were fewer numbers of buses on streets and he had to walk and take rickshaw while going to Mirpur section 10 from Savar.
Since Friday many long-route buses were kept off the roads across the country while a very few number of city service buses were seen on Dhaka roads.
On Friday, police conducted massive searches on Dhaka-bound vehicles setting up checkpoints at various entry points to the Bangladesh capital.
On Saturday morning around 8:00am it was seen in Mirpur, Dhanmondi and Green road areas that only a handful number of vehicles were on roads.
From Kazripara to Bijoy Sarani no city service buses were seen on roads.
People were seen waiting on roads for transports.
Very few cars, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles and rickshaws were seen on the city roads.
No traffic gridlock was seen in the city.
All signals were free from standing vehicles.
Abdul Bareq, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, driver said that the number of buses, auto-rickshaws and even cars and rickshaws are fewer in Dhaka city roads from Friday night.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Pallabi zone assistant commissioner for petrol Monirul Islam said that they had set up checkpoints for security reasons.
He said that traffic on the roads was regular and uninterrupted.