Staff Reporter :Tens of thousands of homebound Eid passengers from Dhaka on Friday were virtually trapped for hours in long tailbacks created on major highways across the country due to excessive pressures of vehicles. Slow movement of cattle loaded trucks also contributed to traffic congestion, police sources said. As a result, the happy Eid journey turned into nightmare to most of the passengers, especially women and children. Police struggled to mitigate the untold sufferings of the people, restoring discipline on the highways. A 80-kilometre tailback was created on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, stretching from Jamurki upazila, Mirzapur in Tangail district to Chandra upazila in Gazipur, in the early hours on Friday, reported our Gazipur correspondent.Golam Mostafa, Officer in Charge (OC) of Mirzapur Police Station told The New Nation in the evening that the tailback was created on Thursday night due to heavy pressure of outbound vehicles moving from the capital. He said, “Some unfit cattle loaded trucks were plying on roads and highways, triggering traffic gridlock.” The traffic gridlock became thin around 9:30am as buses and trucks continued moving bumper to bumper throughout the day, he said.Golam Mostafa also said that transports in the highway were moving at a snail’s pace due to a 60-kilometer traffic jam between Chandra and the eastern end of the Bangabandhu Bridge in Tangail.A 12 km tailback has created on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway on Friday morning, reported our Munshiganj correspondent. More than 2,000 vehicles were seen stranded on both sides of the highway since the morning.The tailback created from Meghna Bridge, Tetoitola in Gazaria upazila ended at Pakhi point of Boushia near Meghna-Gomati Bridge.” A 22-km tailback from Dhumghat Bridge to Mohammadpur Bazar was seen at 11 am on FridayFeni Mahipal Highway police station In-charge Saleh Ahmed said, the gridlock occurred due to additional number of vehicles plying on the road ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Meanwhile, thousands of passengers remained stranded at Mawa Ghat in Munshiganj as the Mawa-Kawrakandi ferry route faced a huge pressure of vehicles following the disruption of ferry service.More than 600 vehicles, carrying the holidaymakers, lined up on both sides of the river Meghna on Friday morning, causing immense sufferings to the passengers. A tailback of 2km was also seen from Mawa to Dogachi of Shreenagar.In-charge of Mawa Ghat SM Ashiquzzam said, “The tailback was the result of the ferries taking more times to return to the terminal due to strong currents in the Padma. Ferries are taking almost two hours to reach Mawa ghat from Kawrakandi, although it is normally a one and a half hours trip.”SM Kamal Hossain, Additional DIG of Highway Police claimed that the Dhaka-Chittagong highway remained almost free from tailback on the day and the homebound people remained hassle free. Meanwhile, thousands of home-bound people of the country’s southern region got relieved on Friday with the end of the eight-kilometer long tailback.Passenger buses, carrying home goers for Eid and Dhaka-bound cattle laden trucks are directly being loaded on the ferries in both sides of the Daulatdia-Aricha ferry crossing point in the river Padma. The scenario began to become normal at 11:00am on Friday. A total of 17 ferries are giving service round the clock to transport vehicles to the other sides of the river, said sources concerned at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation of Daulatdia office.
