THE city dwellers have started for their village homes in different districts to celebrate the second greatest religious festival of the Muslim community Eid-ul-Azha while potholed highways, damaged railways and lack of navigability on waterways are likely to make their journey difficult, newspapers reported. Already traffic jam and other disruptions have been causing trouble to the holidaymakers following the ongoing construction works on many highways, roads and bridges which were damaged due to the recent floods, rainfalls and low-quality repair works. It was reported that Dhaka-Tangail, Cox’s Bazar-Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf, Lalmonirhat-Burimari, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Rajshahi, Jashore-Khulna and Jashore- Benapole highways are in bad shape at numerous points. The movement of three-wheeler vehicles on highways also keeps people worried about accidents during the Eid-time travels.
The Road Transport and Bridges Minister on Monday at a press conference said that many district roads under Roads and Highways Department were yet to be usable, adding that all rundown roads would be repaired three days before the Eid. On the other hand, the train communication between Gaibandha and the rest of the country was yet to resume after July 18 following the floods and the two major intercity trains of that route are running on alternative routes for the disruption. Railway Minister on Friday said that he directed the Railway officials to restore the train communication by August 8.
Besides, lack of navigability on the major Shimulia-Kathalbari river route has become a major headache for the home-goers. Poor navigability is already causing huge disruption on the Shimulia-Kathalbari ferry route at night. The ferry movement was suspended recently on the main channel due to siltation while the alternative channel was not used during the night for low navigability.
In an approximate estimation, over 80 lakh people leave Dhaka on the occasion of Eid festivals. This time there will not be an exception. Each year we see that – people have to suffer on the roads and highways due to heavy traffic jam and lack of vehicles. The train journey also not less hazardous while the journey through waterways also remained full of hassle. We don’t want to see the recurrence of the same difficulties this year too. The authorities concerned must ensure safe and trouble-free journey for the holidaymakers.
