A Correspondent, Chittagong :
The port city on Saturday continued to witness thin presence of its inhabitants following the long void left by the biggest festival of Muslim community, Eid-ul-Fitr, although the city-dwellers started returning after Eid celebrations with their relatives at village homes.
There was a three-day Eid vacation in the last week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Although the offices remained open on Sunday and Thursday, the attendance in both public and private offices was very thin.
The full-fledged official duties are expected to begin from Sunday. But on Saturday the city roads looked vacant as most of the city-dwellers were yet to come back from their village homes after enjoying Eid festivities and holidays with their near and dear ones.
During the Eid vacation, there was almost no crowd in the often-crowded port city as a few number of city people were seen visiting their relatives’ residences.
Since the last Friday, the city-dwellers who went to their village homes have started returning to the city to join their place of works after observing Eid holidays. But the turnout seemed very negligible.
Almost all the shopping establishments and the city shops still remain closed as the employees and the shop-owners are enjoying weeklong holiday since the Eid morning.
It may be mentioned that about 60 to 70 per cent of the city-dwellers are originally from outside the Chittagong city and hail from different parts of the country, almost all of whom go to their village homes particularly during the Eid vacation leaving only the permanent residents to celebrate the festival here in the city.
During the Eid day and the following days of the festival, the tourist spots of the port city including the Foy’s Lake, Chittagong Zoo, Children Park and the Patenga Sea Beach remained full of visitors who enjoyed their holiday time with the family members.
Taking this scenario into consideration, the local tourist spots of the city took all necessary preparations to welcome the arduous visitors during the pressure some Eid holidays.
The Foy’s Lake and Children Park authorities adopted special measures to woo visitors.
The city holidaymakers were also seen visiting different other spots in the hilly districts of Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari as well as the world’s longest sea beach in the tourist city of Cox’s Bazar.
