Traffic comes to a standstill as AL supporters hail Hasina home

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FE Report
The city's traffic system came to a standstill Wednesday after thousands of ruling party supporters thronged roads leading to Zia International Airport to greet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who returned home after a four-day visit to India.
Hundreds of leaders including ministers and lawmakers and activists of Awami League and its front organisations queued along the road to the airport by evening to welcome their leader home, paralysing traffic movement at the capital's key points.
Sheikh Hasina, also the president of Awami League, returned home Wednesday from India completing the three-day trip, her first state visit to India since coming to power a year ago, that, she said, was hundred per cent successful and marked the beginning of a new era of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Leaders and activists of the party started to throng the airport from the very noon as part of a programme to accord a grand reception to the two-time prime minister.
The crowds, however, resulted in long tailbacks at the city's different points including Farmgate, Mohakhali, Shahbagh and Kuril, inflicting immense sufferings on commuters.
Office-returnees, who are regularly caught up in the traffic jam, were particularly hit hard as many of them had to walk towards destinations finding no other option.
The situation worsened further after some regular bus operators chose to avoid those routes, creating extra pressure on the available public transport.
Mustafizur Rahman, a merchant banker, told the FE: "I had to walk from Airport to Banani due to traffic jam as no public car was moving."