This has caused extremely slow traffic movement on the roads in and around Shahbagh.
Although the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) had earlier imposed restrictions on vehicular movement in the Shahbagh area, in reality, the situation on the roads tells a different story.
Due to the presence of vehicles, rickshaws, mobile vendors, and large crowds, a severe traffic jam has developed across the area.
Raju Bhowmik, who left Mirpur in the morning to go to his office on Elephant Road, said: “I know there’s always a crowd on the New Year, but this time the road is almost blocked due to so many stalls and stationary rickshaws. I’ve been stuck in Shahbagh for two hours.”
Another pedestrian, Sabiha Sultana, who came to Ramna with her friends to enjoy the festivities, said: “We are enjoying the festival for sure, but there should have been stricter measures in terms of security and traffic control. The vehicles parked by the roadside are also contributing to the crowd.”
The same scenario is seen in the Dhaka University area. Alongside the crowd of festival-goers, mobile vendors, fuchka and chotpoti stalls, and parked rickshaws on the streets are disrupting both pedestrian movement and traffic flow.
According to DMP sources, they have been working since morning to ensure security and have deployed additional traffic police to control traffic movement.
However, in reality, with the growing crowd, traffic congestion has also increased.
