Traffic at different parts of the Chittagong city, particularly in the shopping mall, virtually came to a standstill on Sunday, as the mobility of shoppers and
vehicles significantly increased for Eid shopping.
People in their hundreds came out of their houses for Eid shopping after four-day dawn-to-dusk general strike and two-day government holiday, triggering severe traffic congestion in the city.
Most of the roads that lead to the major shopping centres in the city were clogged with hundreds of vehicles.
Traffic department of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police has taken some steps for controlling traffic congestion including imposing restriction on heavy vehicles’ movement in front of main shopping centres in the city.
They deployed additional force and changed some bus routes till Eid to free shopping centres and adjacent roads from congestion, said CMP deputy commissioner Kushum Dewan.
Heavy traffic congestions were seen at New Market, Station Road, Anderkilla, Agrabad Seikh Mujib Road, GEC Circle, Sholoshahar, Muradpur and Bohoddarhat area.
Traffic police were also seen struggling to tackle the situation in those points.
The traffic congestion near New Market turned worse. A huge crowd was seen here from morning till night into night as most of the shopping centres remain open till late night.
Kushum Dewan said, ‘We rescheduled some bus routes and stopped heavy vehicle movement in about half a kilometre around New Market from Sunday.’
He said they had already deployed additional traffic police to monitor traffic in the city during Ramadan.
-With New Age input
