Staff Reporter :
Long distance bus stations, launch terminals and train stations were seen overflowing with thousands of homebound passengers on Monday as people were traveling to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr cross the country.
The Eid is expected to be celebrated on June 6, depending on sighting of moon.
Passengers made their all-out efforts to embark on their journeys braving rain and defying all hassles with the advent of the three days Eid holiday that will begin from Tuesday.
Transport operators have arranged additional trips to handle the emergency situation.
They said the mad rush of homebound passengers will continue till Tuesday night.
Besides, Dhaka’s normally busy streets saw less traffic yesterday as many residents already headed for their village homes.
According to some estimates, about one-third of Dhaka’s nearly 20 million residents usually leave the capital city twice in a year on Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.
As the mass exodus begins, traffic has begun to build up on major national highways from afternoon with travellers took their designated intercity buses on their way to home to celebrate the Eid. Traffic was normal on most of the national highways till the noon, but tailback reported on the Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Tangail highways after the evening due to sudden rush of holiday makers following vacation of Eid holidays in aparrel industrial zones in Savar and Gazipur.
Besides, the homebound people have reportedly faced very thin gridlock on the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet highways due to opening of three new bridges– Kanchpur, Meghna and Gumti.
Authorities earlier took necessary measures to maintain traffic discipline on the highways.
Meanwhile, the holidaymakers flock the Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital from the morning on their way to home. They however faced much hassle as at least six intercity trains out of 22 were behind the schedule.
Even, many of the passengers took rooftop of trains taking much risk. Our correspondent from the Kamalapur Railway Station reported that Rangpur-bound Rangpur Express was delayed by one hour and 40 minutes, while Lalmonirhat-bound Lalmoni Special which was supposed to leave the station at 9:15am finally left Kamalapur Railway Station around 12noon. Nilphamari-bound Nilsagar Express was scheduled to leave the station at 8:00am, but it started for the destination around 1:00pm.
Meanwhile, Khulna-bound Sundarban Express was around two hours late, while Chattogram-bound Chottola Express was around 50 minutes late, the correspondent reports. Another train, Chapainawabganj-bound Rajshahi Express, scheduled for 12:20pm, was yet to leave the station when this report was filed around 2:00pm. Asked about the reason behind the delay, Aminul Haque, Manger of Kamalapur Railway Station, said the huge rush of holidaymakers usually take a long time to embark and disembark the trains at their respective railway stations which resulted in the delays. The delay in train schedule has resulted in long wait by the passengers, many of whom, are travelling with children
Aminul Haque, Station Manager of Kamalapur Railway Station, admitted the late running of the trains saying that huge rush of home-goers usually take a long time to embark and disembark the trains at their respective train stations which resulted in the delays.
“We are making all-out efforts to maintain the train schedules,” said Aminul Haque.
Earlier, the railways authorities have launched special “Eid trains” with extra carriages to tackle the rush of Eid passengers.
Heavy rush of Eid passengers was also seen at Gabtoli and Syedabad bus stations and Sadarghat launch terminal in capital. The homebound passengers also made usual complaints of overcharging by the transporters.
A total of 210 launches were scheduled to leave Sadarghat launch terminal on Monday ferrying thousands of passengers of 18 northwestern districts. Many of the passengers were seen riding the roof tops of the launches defying the directives of authorities concerned. Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday that Eid holidaymakers have experienced comfortable journey on roads and highways after a long time. “It takes only four hours to go from Dhaka to Chittagong,” Obaidul Quader told reporters after a meeting on Monday.
He said the government is trying to make return journey safe and comfortable too after Eid with their dears and nears. Not only Eid, the journey on roads and highways will be comfortable throughout the year.
