Capital wears deserted look

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The pavement dwellers in Dhaka city

Dhaka wore a deserted look Friday as thousands of its residents were still enjoying an elongated vacation at their ancestral homes as the three-day public holiday coincided with the weekends.
Most people left the city on November 11 taking Sunday and Monday as casual leave with the Eid vacation from November 16 to November 18.
Government, semi-government and private offices including banks and financial institutions are scheduled to reopen Sunday when the attendance of the staff is expected to be very low on the very first working day.
Not more than 30 to 40 per cent of staff normally join government offices on the very first day as it was seen previously.
Vacation mood has been prevailing in the hospitals as most of the staff went home leaving the ailing patients in a poor state of treatment and nursing. All the hospitals in the capital suffer badly from manpower crisis during Eid vacations every year.
The vacation mood prevailing in the capital with thousands of its dwellers leaving for home for celebrating Eid might continue until next week though some people would start returning from tomorrow.
With the city dwellers going to their native places to celebrate the occasion with near and dear ones, the city streets became almost empty with very low traffic movement.
With the majority of the population leaving, the city roads get a relief for a few days.
Experience at the gas stations was very pleasant for those owning private cars as there was no long queue leaving them waiting for hours to fill in gas.
During Eid-ul Azha, Muslims offer animals as sacrifice to Allah with the commemoration of Hazrat Ibrahim's sacrifice.
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) embarked on a massive clean-up drive as soon as the various cattle markets were dismantled and the sacrificial animals were slaughtered, engaging thousands of cleaners, hundreds of dump trucks and bulldozers in the roads sprayed up with antiseptic water. The drive will continue for next couple of days.
The city will not get its real face before the next weekend ends as many will enjoy additional leave along with weekend.
Office-goers in the city mostly take a few days' extra leave for going to their ancestral or village homes ignoring the heavy rush of people for any mode of transport.