Wellcome 2015

The new year was ushered in with people from all strata of society welcoming it through different programmes in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country amid tight security. A new Gregorian calendar year is celebrated universally every year on January 1 in various innovative ways. People at midnight hosted special events, entertaining activities and grand celebrations to welcome the new year 2015. The enthusiasm of people was visible at hotels, restaurants and other community centres as the places remained crowded hours before the clock turned over. A major section of people, however, celebrated the new year inside their houses in the capital responding to request from the metropolitan police. Most people consider the new year a good time to adopt a resolution for the forthcoming year. People exchanged new year greeting cards and text messages to send warm wishes. Meanwhile, police have prohibited any new year party or concert in an open place in Dhaka.

The outgoing Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Benazir Ahmed on Tuesday told a press conference that they would use cameras to maintain law and order on new year’s eve. There were check posts at the capital’s important thoroughfares in addition to police patrol. People were not allowed to enter Hatirjheel area after 8pm on Thursday. No outsiders were allowed in Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani and Dhaka University areas after midnight. The authorities also ordered city bars and clubs shut for the occasion. The government had also launched special drives to keep illegal alcohol far away from reach, narcotics department officials said. ‘A letter has already been served to all the bars and alcohol serving clubs,’ a senior narcotics control official, Nazrul Islam Sikder, told New Age. The country has a total of 90 bars and 28 clubs, serving various alcoholic beverages. The facilities remained shut on 6:00pm Wednesday through 6:00pm Thursday.

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