Sweet for Honeymoon, Bitter for the Economy

লিখেছেন লিখেছেন ফয়সাল খান ১৮ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩, ০৬:১০:৩১ সকাল

Recently I have gone to Dhaka when I got one week mid-semester leave from my university and the independent day was in the middle of the vacation. So my assumption was that the opposition is not going to call ‘Hartal’ (strike) before and after the Independence Day. Along with this assumption, we planned to visit Cox’s Bazaar for honeymoon and accordingly booked a hotel for two days (25-26 March 2013). We thought that we could come back to Dhaka safely on 27th March. Proving the assumption wrong, the opposition of 18 parties led by BNP called 36 hours ‘hartal’ in 27-28 March. Due to ‘hartal’ we had to stay there for another two days which I think was splendid for us as honeymoon-goers but as a student of economic science I noticed a lot of bad signs for our economy.

Our trip to Cox’s Bazaar was at 10 pm on 24th March. In the afternoon of that day, I got a call from the bus counter and he said, “trip at 10 pm is not going to Cox’s Bazaar, only trip at 7 pm is planning to go as there is a ‘hartal’ in Chittagong tomorrow morning, would you book for this trip?”. Immediately I booked having no option and went to counter before 7 pm. From his call, it was clear that number of tourists is also not that much for which they canceled one trip and merged with trip at 7 pm. Even when I got into the bus, I noticed half of the bus was without passengers. This is, undoubtedly, a bad sign for the economy.

The trip to Cox’s Bazaar was horrible due to tremendous traffic jam and mismanagement of the bus service. I can recall that we needed 3 hours to reach at Sayedabad from Uttara and the bus authority asked us to shift the bus. Similarly, we came across the traffic jam until Comilla. I found the road is so narrow that in no way can be described it as highway. Only one big bus can ride and when another bus comes, then one bus needs to stop or slow down for giving the other bus to pass through. It expresses the condition of our fragile infrastructure system which is risky for travel. If our road system continues in this way, even local tourists will turn off their faces to visit Cox’s Bazaar, let alone the foreign tourists. So, the government needs to pay extra attention to develop more wide roads if she is to attract more tourists and generate income from tourism.

When we reached Bahaddarhaat in Chittagong in the early morning, the petrol jar of the bus faulted and the petrol was falling down in the street. So the bus was not able to move further. Then we had to wait one hour there for another bus of their group. In the meantime, ‘hartal’ in Chittagong started. So we were concerned whether we could reach Cox’s Bazaar safely. Finally with the help of police, the bus was heading to Cox’s Bazaar and luckily we survived from the attack of the picketers and reached safely. Bus management made us extremely unhappy as it could not maintain professionalism which is must at this stage if they are to serve the people with satisfaction, otherwise tourists will not entertain to go Cox’s Bazaar and a significant part of them could shift their travel to the neighboring countries such as India, Maldives, and Nepal. In this process, money will not be circulated in our economy rather it will narrow our foreign currency reserve.

While we reached the hotel, we felt number of tourists is very few and it appeared true when we went to the restaurant of the hotel during lunch finding none there. In the evening, we were surprised when we came to the road; number of rickshaws, autos came to us and persuaded us to go somewhere. They don’t want to entertain us to walk even 100 meters. We understood that they are not even getting the amount that needs to pay the owners of rickshaws and autos, let alone earning for living. It was happen for the lack of tourists. My wife was saying that the situation was totally reverse when she came here two months ago with educational trip of her university. That time, they had to shout and wait for the vehicles and rickshaws and autos were demanding high price than usual.

When ‘hartal’ was announced on 27-28 March, we decided to stay there rather than coming back Dhaka at risk. During the period, every hotel offered discount for attracting tourists in their hotels. It was very easy, then, to stay in cheaper price. To justify the price level, we went to hotel ‘Seagull’ and ‘Ocean Paradise’ to check their fare and found that they are offering special rate for ‘hartal’ days which was not more than break-even. Like many others, we shifted to one of the five star hotel from the earlier one having such discounted fare and actually there were no tourists in the budget and economy hotels. In this case, the big hotels survived and earned something but the small hotels were totally unable to earn anything. So, as honeymoon-goers, the situation was sweet for us as we were getting the luxurious facilities with nominal price and we were walking down the beach which was quiet and charming as well. We were able to view the sunset and to see the waves of the sea very closely and without gathering of people. We could buy pickles, toys, clothes and so on at cheaper price than usual. Even some shoppers were selling products albeit loss.

On March 27, we went to visit Moheskhali and it was a ‘hartal’ day. When we reached at the ghaat (harbor), we saw a long queue of rickshaws and autos though passengers and tourists were very few. Rickshaw-pullers were offering us different rates and many facilities to catch our attention. We saw pale-face among them who are not earning much now due to shortfall of tourists.

All the above scenarios are very sweet for honeymoon-goers as they could enjoy the same facilities at a cheaper price or enjoy more facilities within their budget. For me, the tourist spots in Cox’s bazaar (sea beach, Himchari, Inani, and Moheskhali) were safe. So, honeymoon-goers as well as other tourists can plan to visit Cox’s bazaar during the normal day and if there is ‘hartal’ afterward they can easily prolong their tour. It would not be difficult to stay there at a very cheaper price that time and they can enjoy the natural beauty avoiding gathering. Their attempt will also help to accelerate our tourism sectors. From the government side, they need to ensure security system in the tourist places.

It is ray of hope that the government and opposition both are talking against ‘hartal’. We saw that when Seikh Hasina was in power last time, she said that her party will not call ‘hartal’ even when they are in opposition. In next, when she was in opposition, she called ‘hartal’ days after days . On the other hand, Khaleda Zia never disclose her unwillingness for not calling ‘hartal’ but recently she has said that they don’t want to call ‘hartal’ if government pays attention to their demand ensuring the path of free and fair election restoring caretaker government (CTG). In this situation, it is clear that stopping ‘hartal’ from our political culture is impossible without any national consensus among parties. For the national consensus, responsible persons of big and small parties need to close together and start dialogue how can we avoid ‘hartal’ and give peaceful programs instead. But from the present political leaderships, hoping such big things is daydream for us though it is timely to sit in dialogue if our economy is to grow and develop substantially. Non partisan civil society should come forward to save our country from perils.

বিষয়: রাজনীতি

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