Karwan Bazar crossing in the capital wears almost a deserted look during the strike hours on Tuesday afternoon. — New Age photo

Residents of different parts of the capital suffered in the absence of transports on the roads while day-labourers did not get work during the countrywide three-day general strike.
Many people, however, said the cause of the general strike was doubtlessly logical though the city dwellers had to suffer for it.
The main opposition BNP and its allies called for dawn-to-dusk hartal for Sunday and later extended it for two more days, demanding rescue of the party’s one of central organising secretaries Elias Ali who remained missing since April 17.
Employees of government and non-government offices had to go to their offices on foot or in rickshaws or auto-rickshaws spending several times higher than the normal fair amid fear of violence.
Many were seen waiting at railway stations and bus terminals for hours to go long distances and the day-labourers at different places had to pass their days without work during the strike hours. The trains that left the Kamlapur station had to carry passengers even on the roofs.
The price hike of daily commodities in retail markets because of reduced supply also put extra pressure on the city people.
‘I need to go to my office at Mohammadpur from my house at Sabujbag but due to hartal I set out earlier on foot, then took rickshaw to reach Kamlapur and finally got on an auto-rickshaw for Tk 250,’ said a private job holder Amzad Hossain. He usually spends Tk 15 to go to office by bus.
‘My shop did not open during the three days and so my employer will not pay me for the days,’ said garment shop worker Mukti Roy residing at Basabo.
‘I came from my workplace in Narayanganj in the morning to go to my Rajshahi city home to see my ailing mother and now I am waiting at Kamlapur to get a train,’ Md Hashem from Sahebbazar in the Rajshahi city told New Age on Tuesday.
The Rajshahi-bound Silk City Express, that left Kamlapur at around 2:45pm on the day, carried passengers on its roof.
Shahin Ahmed, who buying daily commodities at Shantinagar market in the city, said vegetable prices had gone up by Tk 5 to Tk 10 per kg, putting extra pressure on the middle- and low-income group people.
He observed that though the issue of hartal was logical, political parties should find out alternative programmes to pressure the government, considering people’s sufferings.