Commuters had a harrowing time on Wednesday morning as rush-hour traffic crawled on the Natore-Pabna highway clogged with a long tailback stretching over 20km. Police attributed the snarls on the high-speed corridor to the huge pressure of vehicles on the roads in the wake of the government easing the Covid-19 lockdown curbs. Also, repair work on the railway tracks passing through the area added to the woes of the motorists. Read: 25 km long tailback on Dhk-Ctg highway Mozaffar Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Banpara Highway police station, said that the railway authorities shut the Muladuli level crossing on Tuesday morning to carry out the repair work, forcing people to take a detour via the highway. Traffic on the highway, however, normalised around noon after the railway authorities opened the level crossing following the repair work, said the OC.

Over 200 unmanned railway level crossings in Cumilla district have turned into potential death traps for local residents.