Chittagong Bureau :
The last and 3rd day of 72-hour countrywide hartal, called by BNP-led 20-party alliance, witnessed a very poor response as life was normal in the city as elsewhere in the district yesterday.
Members of the law enforcement agencies maintained a strong vigil during the hartal period, police and eyewitness source said.
BNP along with its alliance enforced countrywide 72 hours hartal in protest against the “threats by Awami League leaders to cut off utility facilities from BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office and arrest of alliance men.
Metropolitan and District police control room sources said there was no report of any untoward incident from any part 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.
Chittagong district police and Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) in separate drives detained 56 activists of BNP-Jamaat- Shibir from different areas of the port city and different upazilas of the district on monday night and yesterday.
Hathazari thana police also recovered 20 petrol bombs two cocktails and explosives from Hathazari Sadar area in the district at 7am yesterday. BGB 28 battalion deputy Commander Major Sabbir said a special BGB team on receipt of secret information raided at railway colony of Ambagan area and arrested six miscreants with eight petrol bombs, two cocktail and ten knives early yesterday and prevented them from carrying out subversive activities in the port city.
A good number of vehicles mostly commuters’ services were seen plying on the city streets while small number of buses and heavy vehicles on the long distance routes plied with police escort during the hartal.
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 wayside rallies where he said the hartal totally failed as the people of Chittagong rejected it.
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 in some delayed.
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 of 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 sources said.
