Commuters on Tuesday endured hours of intense traffic congestion in different areas in Dhaka city as thousands of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders and activists stood on both sides of the airport road to see party chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is leaving for London for medical treatment, off.
Public faced suffering as thousands leaders and workers took positions blocking roads in Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and聽 other areas, including Gulshan, Banani and Khilkhet from the afternoon to see her off.
BNP chairperson had departed from her Gulshan residence for the airport at about 8:15pm via Dhaka Elevated Expressway route. She could not reach the airport until 10:20pm due to traffic in the area although she was supposed to fly at 10:00pm from the airport.
Earlier, the BNP had issued special instructions to its leaders and activists to avoid causing any public inconvenience while seeing her off.
The party has requested the leaders and activists of its Dhaka south and north city units, along with all other affiliated organisations, to gather in an orderly manner on the footpaths to see the former prime minister off, without obstructing traffic or pedestrians.
But many leaders and activists came down to the streets leaving commuters in the airport area and its surrounding areas in a standstill situation for hours.
Many commuters stuck in the traffic shared videos and photos on social media platform Facebook, expressing their frustration over the situation.
鈥業 am stuck in the middle two hours after I started my journey from Banani road to the airport,鈥� a commuter on a Facebook group wrote.
鈥楢void Dhaka for today. Just walk from Kalshi to Kuril along with thousands of people,鈥� one commuter, in a Facebook post, said.
Law enforcers were seen struggling to control the traffic chaos.
Several law enforcement officials, including Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner for traffic Khondaker Nazmul Hassan could not be reached over the phone despite repeated attempts.
