Sagar Biswas :People have started leaving Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul Fitr in the village homes with their near and dear ones. The Eid may be celebrated on July 6 or 7 this year depending on sighting of the moon in this part of the globe.Obviously, the over populated Dhaka would breathe a sigh of relief as approximately seven to eight million people are expected to leave the city on the occasion, giving the capital city a deserted look for a few days.This year, especially the government employees will enjoy a long Eid holiday stretching nine days starting from July 1. As one working day, July 4, falls between the Eid holidays, it has been treated as general holiday. Earlier, the Ministry of Public Administration sent a proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office [PMO] seeking approval for declaring general holiday on July 4. In this regard, yesterday [Thursday] was the last working day.Country’s highways on Thursday experienced large volume of traffic, while thousands of people, largely the family members of government officials and employees, started journey for their homes, boarding buses, coaches and other vehicles with the beginning of their Eid holidays.”The pressure of vehicles is gradually increasing on the highways. This trend will continue till the Eid day. However, we’re expecting huge rush on July 4 and 5 when low-paid employees, especially the garment workers, will start journey,” a senior official of Highway Police said.He said, “We’ve taken adequate preparations to ensure smooth and disciplined traffic movement. To ensure security, the police department has installed close-circuit-cameras and watch towers. Apart from it, additional members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed at all important highways.” Traffic officials said there was no traffic gridlock yesterday despite increase of vehicles. The movement of traffic on the most problematic highway, Dhaka – Tangail, was also smooth at Chandra point and its adjacent areas. Besides, the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka – Sylhet highways also witnessed no traffic jam.Expressing optimism to ensure a good journey, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said, “This year, the condition of roads is comparatively better than the previous year. I don’t think there will be any gridlock due to dilapidated roadsThe Minister said, “It’s a gift of Prime Minister this year…. The journey of the home goers will be hassle free. The traffic jam will also be lesser due to condition of roads and highways…I do request the VVIPs not to ply their vehicles by the wrong side of the road. Plying of VVIP vehicles by the wrong side creates severe problem and it becomes tough to control traffic jam.” Like the previous years, several home bound people, particularly of northern and southern regions, have still not got bus and launch tickets this year. People, however, started running toward Sadarghat terminal to catch a launch.Meanwhile, hundreds of homebound people faced severe troubles due to bus strike on Natore-Rajshahi route on Thursday for the second consecutive day following conflict between the bus owners.According to information available, the owners shut down two counters of National and Desh Travels of Dhaka-Rajshahi route at Natore Bus Terminal. For that reason, plying of buses between Dhaka -Rajshahi and Chapainababganj are now stopped.Leaders of Natore Bus Mini Bus Owners Association said the bus service would remain cut-off until there is a solution to the problem.
