Sufferings in highway: Police checkpost causes long tailback in Aminbazar

Police set up a checkpost at the Aminbazar entrance of Dhaka ahead of BNP's youth rally today (22 July), causing a long tailback that went past Baliarpur on the Dhaka-Aricha highway since morning. 

As a result, hundreds of office-bound passengers suffered a great deal while enduring severe traffic during the morning rush hours. One of them, Md Jasim said he hopped onto the bus from Dhamrai's Kalampur area at 6am and spent more than an hour between Boliarpur and Salehpur. 

"I ended up getting off the bus and now trying to go as far as I can on foot," he said.

Ibrahim, another office-goer from Manikganj, echoed the same. "This seems like unnecessary harassment to me," he said.  

In the Aminbazar checkpost, members of the district police were seen searching Dhaka-bound vehicles by setting up a barricade on the highway. They questioned the passengers, especially those arriving by microbus, and checked vehicle documents.

Meanwhile, several people passing through the checkpost told The Business Standard that police were mainly trying to determine if they were going to the BNP's youth rally during the search and interrogation.

Saiful Islam, a transport worker, said, "Police just wasted my time. They kept asking me if I would attend the BNP rally, and I kept saying no. I told them that I was going to work." 

"They didn't want to believe me whatsoever and held me up for a long time," he added. 

He further alleged that the police kept on asking him to call whoever he was going to meet. 

"What's the point of harassing me like that? I'm just going to my work," Saiful said.

Sagar, a student of Dhamrai College echoed the same. 

"The police stopped me and wanted to know where I was going. I said I was going to Dhaka for personal reasons. They didn't believe me and wanted to know if I'm going to attend the BNP rally," he said. 

"Since I had a friend accompanying me, they repeatedly asked why were we going together. However, they let us pass the checkpost after further questioning," Sagar added.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Abdulla Hil Kafi, Additional Superintendent of Police (Savar circle) Shahidul Islam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Savar Model police station Deepak Chandra Saha and other officials were present at the checkpost.

Over 30 people were seen sitting inside the Aminbazar 20-bed Hospital after interrogation since morning.

Police, however, said that no one was detained from the checkpost.

Abdulla Hil Kafi told The Business Standard, "I do not have any information about detaining anyone. No such thing happened. Checkposts are set up to prevent anyone from entering the capital to cause anarchy.

Deepak Chandra Saha said, "The checking of vehicle documents is part of the traffic department's regular checkup," he added. 

When asked about the sufferings of people due to the long tailback caused by the checkpost, he said, "There is no traffic congestion. The vehicular movement is just slower due to the checkpost."

Around 11:30am, the vehicular movement on the highway started to get back to normal as police removed the barricades from the Dhaka-bound lane of the highway.

Three wings of the BNP announced to hold the youth rally in the six divisions of the country to encourage young voters to participate in the party's ongoing movement to restore democracy.

The Dhaka rally is scheduled to be held today. It has already been held in Chattogram, Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions.