M M Jasim :
A good number of people have started leaving capital Dhaka from Tuesday to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones.
Many homebound have taken the advantage of Wednesday’ government holiday and managed the office bosses for Thursday as Eid vacation will start from Friday.
Meanwhile, many of the family members, especially wives, children and elderly ones, have already left the capital for their respective villages and other destinations to avoid journey-related hassles.
Eid will be celebrated on July 18 or 19, depending on the sighting of Shawal moon.
Around seven to eight million people are set to leave the capital city for their native villages to celebrate the Eid with their near and dear ones leaving the sensitive task of ensuring the security of their houses and valuables to law enforcers.
“As per the information so far we have, around 7-8 million people or half of the city’s total population will go to their village homes from Dhaka on the occasion of the Eid festival,” said Deputy Commissioner (Media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan (DMP) Muntasirul Islam.
He said nearly 25 lakh eid holidaymakers were to leave Dhaka by Monday night, while another 20 lakh on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Muntasirul Islam said they think bus, launch and railway stations will witness the main rush of homebound passengers on Thursday and Friday as nearly 30-35 lakh people will make their frantic efforts to reach their destinations on these two days.
According to bus, train and launch service sources, all advance tickets for the Eid special journey have been sold out.
The mad rush of homebound passengers would continue till Friday.
Visiting two major bus terminals at Sayedabad and Gabtoli, Kamalapur Railway Station and Sadarghat Launch Terminal, it was found that passengers from different directions of the capital were pouring in these stations to board the vehicles.
Abdur Razzak, a government official, told The New Nation yesterday that today (Wednesday) is a government holiday and Thursday is opening day. He managed his boss that he would not come to the office tomorrow and would attend the office after Eid vacation.
Mafruja Sultana, another government official, said she has applied for leave for Thursday. And after leave approval she is leaving Dhaka for home today (Tuesday), she said.
Like Abdur Razzak and Mafruja Sultana, thousands of people managed their office and decided to leave Dhaka yesterday.
Md Shafiq, manager of Nabil Paribahan told The New Nation that the number of travelers started to increase significantly from Tuesday than that of normal days. “In normal days busses leave Gabtioli with seven or eight vacant seats, but now even the engine covers are booked,” he said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people who opt to leave the city two or three days ahead of Eid, are still moving from one counter to another in search of tickets.
At the Sadarghat Launch Terminal, thousands of passengers gathered 3-4 hours earlier than the departure time of the water vessels.
“I came early to get a seat on the deck as I haven’t found any cabin ticket,” said Maruf Hossain, a businessman.
According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, the special launch service that started from yesterday would run till next five days after Eid.
It will operate on 39 routes across the southern part of the country.
The private bus authorities began operating their special service yesterday.
Some Eid trippers alleged that they have been charged higher fares than the usual ones taking an undue advantage of the huge demand for tickets. But the bus operators are justifying it saying that they are taking it to recover their losses as they do not get passengers in their return trips from outside Dhaka.
Akhtaruzzam, a student who had been at Saidabad bus terminal to see his uncle off, said, “I bought two tickets for my uncle from Falguni Paribahan for Thursday to go to Pirojpur. I was charged Tk 600 each against its regular price of Tk 400.”
Asked why he has given the extra money, Akhtaruzzam said, “We are helpless. We don’t have other option but to buy the tickets with a higher price for going home and celebrating the Eid with our family members.”
Nasrin, a housewife, also had to pay Tk 700 for travelling to Patharghata, Barguna against its regular price of Tk 400.
