Cacophony is hushed by coronavirus as Chattogram beach, amusement parks empty out on Eid
by bdnews24.com
In normal times, people in their thousands arrive on the sea beach and in amusement parks in Chattogram and they reverberate with never-ending noise on Eid-ul-Fitr.
But after the government declared the bustling city under quarantine and ordered people to stay at home, something else arrived.
Silence.
The police on Monday turned back visitors from the Patenga Sea Beach, Foy’s Lake, Sea World and the zoo, all of which remained closed even during the festival due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We usually struggle to manage the crowds on Eid, but this year we’ve ensured that no one goes to the beach,” Patenga police chief Utpal Barua told bdnews24.com.
Sub-Inspector Sumon Dey at Kathgarh check-post said they turned back many visitors who came to enjoy the empty metallic forests throughout the day.
Additional police personnel have been deployed around the other amusement centres as well.
The ticket counters at Sea World usually have long queues on Eid, but this year they were covered with dust after around three months of shutdown.
It was the first shutdown of the amusement centre at Foy’s Lake after its inception, said Bishwajit Ghose, a deputy manager of Concord Group that operates the Sea World.
Foy’s Lake and Sea World usually draw more than 1,000 visitors daily. The number soars to 6,000 on Eid day, in addition to guests in a resort.
No one is there now.
The Chattogram Zoo, situated near Foy’s Lake, hosts around 5,000 visitors daily in normal times and up to 18,000 during Eid.
“We’ve never experienced such an Eid before,” said Deputy Curator Shahadat Hossain Shubho.
The zoo has been closed since Mar 19, a day after Bangladesh reported the first COVID-19 death.
The coronavirus outbreak has turned popular Eid haunts such as Swadhinata Park, children’s parks at Kazir Dewri and Agrabad, the banks of the Karnaphuli river, Parki Beach, Kattoli Beach, CRB and War Cemetery, into ghost towns.