48-hour blockade: Two buses set ablaze in Gazipur

Two buses were set on fire on Sunday night and early Monday in Gazipur‍‍`s Bilaspur and Safipur areas amid the 48-hour road, rail and waterway blockade enforced by the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and their allies.

A stationary bus of Nirapad Paribahan was set on fire by unidentified miscreants at Bottola of Bilaspur last night, said Rakibul Hasan, inspector of Gazipur Fire Service.

On information, firefighters rushed to the spot and doused the blaze.

In another incident, miscreants torched a bus on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Safipur area of Kaliakair upazila early Monday.

When the bus reached the Safipur area, some arsonists boarded the slow moving vehicle, set fire after pouring petrol on it and ran away, said the inspector.

A limited number of long-distance buses are plying the Gazipur-Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways since morning on the second day of the blockade. However, the movement of inter-district buses, light vehicles is quite normal.

People of different professions are traveling to their destinations by riding various vehicles including rickshaws and auto-rickshaws.

Markets, shops and financial institutions remained open.

Additional police forces have been deployed at various points including Chandra, Chandna intersection, Bhogra bypass road areas.

RAB and BGB members are patrolling various roads and highways to keep the industrial environment normal.