Badrul Ahsan :
Frequent security check-up by the law enforcement agencies on the city streets after sudden rise of terror activities have made the dwellers life almost miserable.
It also caused serious gridlock on the streets in the capital, particularly in several posh areas, although the success rates of arresting militants or finding out explosives and weapons are very nominal.
Expressing annoyance, some aggrieved people said the law enforcers check-up people and their vehicles bringing the riders down in different city spots which they said kill the time to reach their destinations on schedule. They also termed it as harassment for the commuters.
“I was going to Sonargaon Hotel to join a programme from Gulshan-2. But on my way the law enforcers stopped my car in three places where I was forced to come down and the on duty police checked my purse and vehicle taking quite a long time. And in this way I missed to reach the programme on time,” Asfia Sultana, a sufferer, told the New Nation on Sunday.
She said the slow motion of checking and its frequencies created serious gridlock on the street and added it as an extra suffering to the already persisting traffic congestion in the city.
“Besides, body and purse check-up of female by male police also in many cases thrown women in an embarrassing situation,” she added.
“Significant spaces of city streets have already occupied by illegal parking. And if additional vehicles are stopped in the name of checking then what the situation stands? I had to face terrible traffic congestion in front of Mirpur 10 yesterday only because of security check-up,” said Abu Abdullah, another commuter.
Besides, officials at different hotels, motels and rest houses of the city alleged that boarders of their houses have decreased significantly after the terror attacks.
“Customers in our restaurant dropped largely after the Ashkona bomb blasts in the city on Friday. Besides, inflow of foreign guests also dropped in last two days. Security check-up in the streets also created some fear among them,” an official of Hotel Westin in the city’s Gulshan area told the New Nation preferring anonymity.
After a visit to different areas of the city, including Gulshan, Banani, Mirpur, Shahbagh and Dhanmondi, this correspondent found that security personnel were checking mostly personally used vehicles like motor cycle, private car, jeep and auto rickshaw and their riders. Long queues of vehicles found in most of the checking points.
Members of police and other law enforcing agencies were found reluctant about traffic jam and people’s sufferings.
However, replying to a query of the New Nation, a high official of Bangladesh Police said they have no other options but to continue the check-up to prevent further incident.
“We know about the public sufferings, but we are helpless. If we don’t continue checking then miscreants will have the privilege to carry their weapons and explosives from one place to another freely which we can’t accept,” he added.
“Almost all the city roads most of the time remains pact with vehicles. If we wait for a suitable time for checking it will not be realistic. Although our visible achievement is nominal, indirect impact of the checking is huge,” the official said.
It is to be noted that, an unidentified youth was blown up in a suicide bombing at an under-construction installation of the Rapid Action Battalion’s Headquarters at Ashkona in Dhaka on Friday, leading authorities to reinforce security at airports and other key installation points to prevent any further incident.
Besides, a suspected militant was also shot dead at RAB’s check post in Khilgaon on Saturday as he tried to attack members of the elite force. It also forced the authorities concerned to beef up security in different points of the city.
