Examinees caught up in gridlock caused by Bhutan PM\\\'s visit

Grade-VII student Sabiha Akter Sumi was about 20 minutes late to school for her final examinations on Saturday. She had set out in good time but was caught in the traffic like many others during Bhutan’s Prime Minister’s visit. It usually takes about 20 minutes for Sumi to reach school from her Darussalam residence. But on Saturday, the street was blocked when Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay was returning to the city after placing wreaths at the National Memorial in Savar. ‘I had to leave out a question in the examination due to lack of time,’ Sumi said. Schedules of numerous others went haywire due to the unexpected gridlock. Farmgate, Karwanbazar, Shabagh were out of bounds for traffic for around 2 hours from 10:45am. Adabor residence ‘Zulfikar’ was going to Gulistan from Adabor in his car. He had to sit still in his car for nearly 2 hours. ‘Normally, it takes around 30 minutes to get to Gulistan from home. But it took 2 hours today,’ he said. The gridlock caused by the half-hour road block took nearly 2 hours to ease. Many others, including ambulances carrying patients, were also caught in the snarl. When approached, DMP's Mirpur zone Assistant Commissioner (traffic) Mia Ahmed Newazi said: ‘Security of the foreign guest is the most important issue.’ He said the road was opened after 11am following the return of the Bhutanese PM. ‘The student might have been stuck in the jam afterwards. But police would have certainly helped if they knew there were examinees or ill people there,’ he added, according to bdnews24.com.