Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
With only five days left before the Eid-ul-Azha, the people have started leaving the capital city for their village homes to celebrate the religious festival with their near and dear ones.
Although the Eid vacation starts on August 24, a large number of people, especially women, children and students, are going early to avoid the unexpected trouble later. The Eid will be celebrated on September 25.
Yet many people are facing bitter experience in their journey. Thousands of passengers remained stuck on Dhaka-Tangail highway for hours on Saturday due to a 25-kilometre long tailback in the Natiyapara area under Mirzapur upazila on the highway.
A truck broke down at the area in the early hours. The vehicular movement remained completely halted until the truck was removed from the highway after four hours, causing the traffic jam to stretch from Chandra intersection in Gazipur to Natiyapara. Vehicles started to move slowly after removal of the truck, witnesses said.
The smooth journey for thousands of people ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha is not possible also this year, as heavy rainfall has damaged highways in different parts of the country. According to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), about 3,100 kilometers of the highway across the country are full of potholes and cracks.
Rainfall has damaged 209 kilometers of the 427 kilometer roads of Sirajganj district. Chittagong, Pabna, Bhola, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Tangail, Gopalganj, Shariatpur, Brahmanbari, Cox’s Bazar, Rangpur, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat are among the most affected districts.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that it wouldn’t be possible to free the highways from the traffic jam completely ahead of the Eid, as all the highways are not still fit for vehicular movement fully. He said this during his visit to different spots of Dhaka-Sylhet highway and Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Kachpur in Narayanganj on Saturday.
On September 15, the minister said that there would be no traffic jam ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha. He also said that it was the unfit vehicles responsible for traffic jam. The law-enforcers will remain alert to make sure that no unfit vehicle could ply on roads ahead of Eid.
On Saturday, the Kamlapur Railway Station, Sadarghat Launch Station and different bus stations in the city were packed with passengers.
Staff of different private bus services said that the number of passengers started to increase significantly from Thursday evening compared with that of normal days. The passengers preferred setting out for their villages on that day, as it was the last working day of the week. The rush of passengers increased also on Saturday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, who opt to leave the city one or two days ahead of the Eid, were still moving from bus counters to Kamalapur Railway Station in search of tickets. The railway station witnessed crowd also on Saturday, as thousands of people went there to get tickets for September 24.
Many complained that they were not getting advance train tickets. Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Sitangshu Chakrabarty said that the tickets and the coaches are limited. So, they can’t please everyone.
