Hossain was assigned the job of controlling traffic on Manik Mia Avenue, when others were spending the public holiday with families.

He somehow managed a few minutes in the morning to offer Eid prayers at a mosque at Lalmatia before returning to duty.

Another on-duty constable, deployed at Farmgate, however, did not seem as sporting about sacrificing Eid holiday as Hossain. 

“What will I gain telling this? I am a poor man. Who will save my job if your writing creates some problem for me?” he asked.

There were, however, no much hassles for the traffic police doing duty in Dhaka on the day of Eid.

Except for some traffic pressures in National Eidgah area and Baitul Mukrram National Mosque area after the Eid prayers in the morning, streets in the capital were mostly empty as people preferred staying indoors due to rain.

Rickshaws were seen plying on even VIP streets.

A traffic police constable, with the unofficial rank of ‘Munshi’, said only 20 percent of the traffic police personnel went on Eid vacation this year.

Some comparatively literate traffic police constables do some administrative work. They are called ‘Munshi’ by the colleagues.

The ‘Munshi’, with whom the bdnews24.com correspondent spoke, said there were 206 traffic police personnel in his zone. Of them, around 40 went on vacation. The others are doing the duty in turns.

Sergeants were seen chatting along the streets at Asadgate, Farmgate, and Kalyanpur.

Constable Rafikul Islam said there was “no need to control” the few number of vehicles plying on the streets.

According to the traffic police control room, the number of vehicles plying on the streets of Dhaka was much less.

Hatirjheel area, where people in Dhaka go to celebrate, saw slight traffic congestion even when it was raining.