Staff Reporter :
Mad rush of people leaving Dhaka started since Tuesday morning ahead of the countrywide fresh lockdown to check the worsening Covid-19 situation.
Hundreds of people on the day thronged the highways and waterways across the country violating social distancing norms.
Since morning the pressure of vehicles and passengers at Shimulia-Banglabazar, Paturia-Daultadia and Aricha-Kazirhat waterways was as high as the festival times.
At Gabtoli inter district bus terminal in the capital people were seen availing alternative transports paying extra fares and risking their lives.
A five-kilometre long tailback has been created on Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Burichong upazila in Cumilla district due to increased traffic ahead of a fresh lockdown to be imposed from Wednesday.
Anisur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mainamati Highway Police Station, said the tailback has been created since Tuesday morning stretching from Kachua point to Chandina point in the upazila following heavy pressure of vehicles including goods-laden vehicles and private vehicles carrying home-bound people.
However, the vehicles are passing on slowly and the highway police are working to ease the traffic jam.
The pressure of vehicles on highway was seen for the last couple of days as the government will impose a stricter lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19.
On Monday, the country saw the highest number of daily deaths from Covid-19.
Meanwhile, a heavy traffic jam was observed in the Tangail section of the Dhaka-Tangail Bangabandhu Bridge highway on Monday, said Tangail traffic police Inspector Delwar Hossain. However, the situation improved significantly on Tuesday.
The government announced a lockdown amid rising cases of coronavirus infections and extended it by two days to Apr 13, merging it with a new lockdown that starts on Wednesday.
A shutdown of long-haul bus services has caused immense suffering to passengers. Northbound travellers were spotted using various types of transport, including trucks.
Passengers complained they were being forced to pay extra due to a lack of travel alternatives. Many were not following health guidelines and were seen travelling in overcrowded vehicles.
Yasir Arafat, chief of Elenga police outpost, however, said police were carrying out their duty properly on the highway.
Besides, more than 1,500 vehicles stranded at the Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry terminal due to a rush of homebound passengers ahead of the lockdown. “The pressure of homebound passengers increased. More than 1,000 vehicles on the Shimulia route and over 700 vehicles on the Banglabazar route are waiting to cross the Padma River,” Shafayet Ahmed, BIWTC manager at the Shimulia ferry terminal, told media on Tuesday morning.
As many as 14 ferries out of 16 are transporting vehicles on the route, but they are not able to bring the situation under control, Shafayet said.
“Launch services are not available on the Shimulia-Banglabazar route. More than 450 speedboats and several hundred trawlers are also transporting passengers in a crowded state.”
