Lockdown loosens up

Just a day after announcement of relaxation in restrictions, a "normal Dhaka life" has almost resumed with the increasing public and vehicular movement on the streets.

Many shops were found open yesterday, which were operating till night.

The announcement that shops and malls would reopen from April 25 (from 10am to 5pm) also gave a sense of relaxation to the city's people. The road transport minister yesterday even hinted that public tranport may also resume after April 28.

On Pragati Sarani and Gulshan, many shops of fashion items, electronic goods, furniture, decoration and hardware were found open.

Abul Hasan, a furniture shop owner at Natun Bazar area, said he opened his shop nearly after two weeks.

"People like to buy furniture by checking those out in person. Keeping the shop closed for two weeks was a huge loss for us," he said.

In the alleys in Vatara area, all kinds of shops were seen open till 10pm.

"For almost two weeks, we could not open shops. Eid is near. It's very hot in day time. So many people like to do shopping after Iftar. So we kept the shop open," said Syed Ali, who has a readymade garments shop in Vatara area.

Meanwhile, police said those who will come out of their house for shopping from today, will need "movement pass". Those from several professions, including health workers, journalists, and other emergency workers, however, do not require the pass.

On Facebook, many netizens complained that they failed to get movement pass despite repeated attempts. Even if some people could complete registration, they could not download the pass, they said.

Meanwhile, police have issued 14,20,033 movement passes until yesterday, according to data of the Police Headquarters.

However, for the last four days, the situation was starkly different from even last week's situation, when police were reluctant to spare even frontline workers during vehicle checks. They have since relaxed their grip on the situation, allowing more vehicles to pass through, unchecked.

Upon visiting some key intersections in the capital's Airport Road, Pragati Sarani, Vatara, Natun Bazar, Gulshan, Banani, Bijoy Sarani, and Farmgate areas, this correspondent found moderate to high traffic congestion on the streets.

On Airport road, there was a tailback from morning to noon with hundreds of private cars, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, goods-laden covered vans and trucks, plying the road.

This correspondent crossed several check-posts in some key-points of the city where police were seen sitting idly there.

Iftekharul Islam, additional deputy commissioner (media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Daily Star "It is not possible to check everyone when there are so many people on the road. This can end up causing further congestion on the road. As a result, we are doing randomised checks," he added.

With Covid-19 cases continuing to rise alarmingly from mid-March, the government imposed a nationwide "lockdown" for one week from April 5.

Later, a week-long "stricter lockdown" was declared from April 14, which has been extended till April 28.