Heavy rain causes water-logging, transport disruption

Heavy downpour triggered by Cyclone Remal caused immense suffering for the city-dwellers as transport services, including the metro rail, were seriously disrupted, besides water-logging throughout the day on Monday.
People from all walks of life, especially office-goers and day labourers, suffered the most from the limited number of transport options and the higher charges demanded by the transport operators.
Besides frequent power outages in different parts of the city interrupted activities in many important organisations, including government offices, banks, non-bank financial institutions, hospitals, schools, colleges, and other educational institutions.
Sources said the halt of the Dhaka Metro Rail aggravated the communication woes of the city people further.
Operations of the metro rail remained suspended for nearly two hours on Monday morning and experienced partial disruption in the evening, which marks the peak hour of office-bound trips for the city people.
A state-owned bank official, Mohiuddin Dipu, encountered difficulties reaching his office located in Motijheel from the Kawran Bazar area.
"It was like a bolt from the blue for me since I learned that the metro rail service was halted due to technical glitches induced by adverse weather," he said.
Since many people were looking for public buses and other vehicles as alternatives to reach the office, there was an unusually high crowd.
Company Secretary (Joint Secretary) of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, Abdur Rauf, confirmed the disruption to the reporters.
The power supply for the metro rail operations was disrupted due to technical reasons, causing the service halt, he said. Sources said that even after the resumption, the trains were running at irregular intervals for some time.
Later, around 4.0 pm, the service was again disrupted due to a tree branch falling on the rail line inside Dhaka University campus, according to sources.
The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in a Facebook post said the Metrorail started running regularly on the entire route from Uttara to Motijheel from 07.00 pm.
Earlier on the last Saturday evening, the metro rail operations were halted due to another technical fault, leading to commuters' sufferings.
Meanwhile, the incessant rain caused water-logging in many parts of the city, including Motijheel, Paltan, Mirpur, Shwapara, Kazipara, Farmgate, Kawran Bazar, and Bangshal.
Many important roads and narrow lanes within neighbourhoods were inundated under the water from excessive rainfall. The longstanding stagnated water aggravated movements to and from Dhaka.
Dhaka district witnessed a heavy rainfall of 151 millimetres in 24-hour period till Monday 6.0pm, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).
The BMD also said heavy downpour may continue to the different parts of Dhaka today (Tuesday) too.

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