At least 15 CNG-run auto-rickshaws were vandalised and another torched by pickets in Keraniganj upazila during the BNP enforced daylong hartal in Dhaka district today (Wednesday).
The shutdown was enforced by district unit BNP in Dhaka district, excepting the capital, demanding the release of the party’s joint secretary general Amanullah Aman and its other leaders and activists in all five upazilas of the district.
Witnesses said hartal supporters brought out a sudden procession in Hazratpur area under Keraniganj model thana and vandalised eight CNG-run auto-rickshaws at about 8am.
At the same time, another group of pickets damaged seven CNG-run auto-rickshaws and set another ablaze in Dalkandi area of the upazila.
The shutdown seems to have had no impact in South Keraniganj, Nawabganj and Dohar upazila yet.
General vehicles, especially buses and CNG-run auto-rickshaws, were plying the streets as usual. Coaches which could not come towards Dhaka city through the Mawa launch terminal in the morning started to enter it after 11am.
On the other hand, activities at Sadarghat launch terminal were normal in the morning.
In Savar, a group of Juba Dal activists torched a tyre on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in Paliarpur area of Savar upazila at about 7:30am.
Earlier, Savar thana police arrested 14 activists of BNP and Juba Dal along with two private cars and nine litres of petrol from Tetuljhara and Rajshan area of the upazila on Tuesday midnight.
Police, Rab and BGB members were seen patrolling the sensitive points in the district.
District BNP president and BNP chairperson’s adviser Abdul Mannan Khan confirmed the hartal announcement on Tuesday night.
The hartal is also meant for registering a protest against showing Aman, Dhaka district general secretary, arrested in a fresh case to ‘halt his release’ from jail.
Aman was to be released from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) prison cell on Tuesday as he secured interim bail for six months from the High Court in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act.
On March 11, police in a raid on the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office arrested over 150 of its leaders and workers, including Aman.