Chittagong Bureau :
Day long hartal called by BNP, Chittagong City Unit received poor response in the city as elsewhere in the district yesterday.
Members of the law enforcement agencies maintained a strong security vigil during the hartal period, police and eyewitness source said.
BNP, city and district unit jointly called -day long hartal in greater chittagong yesterday protesting the arrest of about 300 BNP actisvists including President of North District BNP Aslam Chowdhury and the vice president of South district BNP Enamul Hoque on evening of Monday. The hartal enforced from 6 am to 6pm yesterday Metropolitan and District police control room sources said there was no report of any untoward incident from any parts of the city and district during the hartal hours. Police and witnesses said that there were hardly any picketing and procession by the supporters during the shutdown. A good number of vehicles mostly commuters’ services were seen plying on the city streets while small number of buses and heavy vehicles in the city roads plied with police escort during the hartal. No inter-district and intercity buses operated during hartal yesterday from the port city.
Though academic activities in the educational institutions remained closed, attendance in the government and private offices was as usual. Rickshaws and battery-run three-wheelers were dominating the city streets while presence of motorized vehicles was thin due to fear of possible vandalism and arson attack.
Bangladesh Awami League (AL) and its front organizations dominated almost all the city streets by holding rallies and bringing out processions.Chittagong city unit President and former mayor A B M Mohiuddin Chowdhury addressed a series of way side rallies where he said the hartal totally failed as the people of Chittagong
rejected the call of BNP chairperson. Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) authority sources said that operational activities inside the CEPZ went on in full swing and attendance of the workers was almost normal.
Chittagong Railway station sources said all scheduled trains to and from the port city left and arrived as per schedule.Besides, the Hartal did not affect the domestic and international flights at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport, Bangladesh Biman sources said.
Operational activities including loading and unloading of cargoes at ships inside the port and outer anchorage went on in full swing but transportation of export-import goods to and from the port jetty was hampered due to disruption in vehicular
movements on the roads, port Secretary Jaker Hossain said.
