The third day of the ongoing strict lockdown saw increased number of people and vehicles on the streets of capital city on Sunday as police made more arrests and collected bigger sum of fines.
The increased movement may partly be due to the reopening of banks and return of Eid holidaymakers to the city, police said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested 587 people and traffic police collected Tk 12,72,000 as fines from 521 vehicles for violating lockdown rules on Sunday.
Meanwhile, 233 people across the city were fined Tk 1,00,950 by mobile courts for not following the restrictions and health guidelines.
RAB and Army personnel patrolling the streets of the city alongside local police, were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people setting up strategic check-posts in different areas.
Though check-posts were set up from Gabtoli-Mirpur Road-New Market to Uattara-Airport-Mohakhali, to prevent unwanted movement, people on the streets showed different excuses when caught by law enforcers, Traffic officer Asaduzzaman of Mohakhai said.
“Many people were still returning to the city after the Eid holidays.”
Though some were seen carrying luggage on foot, a good number of people were halted at the entry points of the city including Abdullahpur, Uttara, Tongi, Amin Bazar bridge and Babu Bazar bridge, he said.
However, as per the government instructions, only ambulances and those in emergency services were allowed to enter the capital.
On Thursday, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB that this lockdown would be stricter than the one imposed last time. “Police, the paramilitary Bangladesh Border Guard and the Army will keep a strict vigil on the roads.”
The second round of strict lockdown started on 8 am of July 23 that would continue till Aug. 5 unless further extended.
Source: United News of Bangladesh