Ehsanul Haque Jasim :With the holy Eid-ul-Fitr remains two weeks away, the issue of deplorable conditions of the roads and highways across the country has come to the table once again like other years. The people will experience immense sufferings during their journey, as they suffered in the past. Although the people believe that the bus journey will be risky due to poor condition of the roads and highways, they are trying to collect the tickets of bus in advance. Many people are favouring the train joinery too which train ticket counters were also seen crowded on Friday. In the middle of the Ramzan, advance sale of bus tickets started on Friday morning. But passengers faced sufferings to collect their advance tickets. Nonetheless, many passengers could not get tickets even after standing in long queues on different bus counters in the city, including Gabtoli and Sayedabad. Some others collected their tickets paying additional charge. Some passengers said that bus operators had intentionally stopped selling tickets purposefully. They also alleged that bus operators were charging additional fare for travel during the Eid rush. “I along with my family members want to leave Dhaka three to four days before the Eid-ul-Fitr. I went to Gabtoli bus stand to collect advance tickets for my family members, but I have failed to do it,” said Arif Hossain, a resident of Mirpur who hails from Nilphamari. Bus owners, however, rejected the allegation, saying that they were selling tickets as per government rule. “We are not collecting extra charge. The passengers are facing little suffering, as they have to stand in line for a long time,” said Alamgir Hossain, manager of ‘Shayamoli Paribahan’ on the route of North Bengal. He said that there were 50, 000 passengers for 20, 000 tickets of July 16, indicating of tremendous rush. Consequently, passengers have to wait for long and suffered a little bit. “There are excessive demand for tickets of July 16 and 17,” said Alamgir Hossain. Visiting Gabtoli bus stand, it was seen that hundreds of people thronged different bus counters and stood in queues to collect tickets.The Dhaka-Chittagong, the Dhaka-Mymensingh, the Gazipur-Tangail-Jamalpur, the Daulatdia-Jhenaidah-Khulna and the Khulna-Satkhira highways are not in good condition. Many parts of roads and highways have turned muddy and dotted with potholes. The Dhaka-Mymensingh highway is difficult and hazardous.Observers said, that heavy rainfall is likely during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, as the Eid is going to be celebrated in the middle of the rainy season. If heavy rainfall is recorded during the Eid-ul-Fitr, it will increase the suffering of the people. With the advent of the monsoon, the condition of the roads and highways has further worsened. The reasons behind poor state of roads and highways can be attributed to slow speed of construction work, unplanned digging and absence of repair work, sources said. In this situation, many people are preparing to leave Dhaka. They believe that the train journey will be safe than bus journey, as collection advance bus tickets have become tough while the roads and highways across the country are in deplorable condition.
