With Eid-ul-Fitr just two days away, holidaymakers’ home rush this year was smooth and hassle-free till Monday. Dhaka dwellers are leaving the city in thousands to celebrate the biggest festival for Muslims with their near and dear ones at their village homes.
The common phenomenon of long tailbacks on the highways, schedule disruption of trains and huge crowds of passengers at the Sadarghat Launch Terminal are almost absent ahead of this Eid.
However, there have been allegations of charging extra fares by launch and bus operators and railway ticket black-marketing.
Although people have been leaving the capital over the past two days, officials related to mass transportation said that the outgoing passengers' pressure will increase from Tuesday morning.
The readymade garment factories around the city, which house thousands of employees, have started closing for holidays in phases. On Sunday, 1,325 factories closed for the Eid holidays.
Besides, government and non-government offices will be closed from Wednesday, which will lead to an increase in last-minute crowds at the bus and launch terminals and train stations from the afternoon. As the educational institutions went on holidays early, many people managed to leave the city before the Eid rush started.
There were moderate crowds at Sayedabad, Mohakhali and Gabtoli bus terminals throughout Monday but mostly passengers who booked advanced tickets boarded buses to their destinations. The usual crowd ahead of Eid was not there till the afternoon.
Our Tangail correspondent reported that traffic pressure has increased on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway. This route is seeing twice as many vehicles before Eid as usual. Although the traffic pressure increased gradually from Monday morning, there were no reports of traffic jams till the afternoon. Along with buses, people were seen going home on pickup trucks, covered vans and trucks taking risks.
Bangabandhu Bridge’s Executive Engineer Ahsanul Kabir Pavel said that under normal conditions, 15,000-18,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day. But a total of 47,522 vehicles crossed the bridge in 36 hours till 12pm on Monday as traffic pressure increased.
Tangail traffic inspector Rafiqul Islam Sarkar said that the 14-km stretch from Elenga in Kalihati Upazila to Bangabandhu Bridge was made one-way on Sunday due to increased traffic pressure.
“Northbound vehicles are now moving on this road. And after crossing the Bangabandhu Bridge, Dhaka-bound vehicles are travelling through Bhuiyanpur to Elenga,” he said.
A similar situation was seen on the highway in Sirajganj on Monday. Vehicular movement rose manifold compared to normal times but it was just a slight increase from Sunday. No one travelling on this highway had to face any suffering till Monday evening.
Meanwhile, there is no traffic jam on the Narayanganj section of the Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Chittagong highways as well. Passengers and drivers said the entire journey was comfortable.
Syed Moinul Hasan, the chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, said that they have installed six new Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) machines at the Meghna Bridge to keep the highway traffic smoother and congestion-free during the Eid rush.
According to highway police sources, around 25,000 vehicles are using this road every day during Ramadan. And since the beginning of April, about 35,000 vehicles are using it every day.
Our Manikganj and Rajbari correspondents also reported that there was no significant pressure of passengers and vehicles on the Paturia-Daulatdia ferry route. Passengers and vehicles are boarding the ferries and crossing the river without waiting and suffering.
Before the Padma Bridge opened in 2022, the Daulatdia-Paturia ferry service was one of the gateways for the people of 21 districts in the southern and western districts. Passengers used to suffer from hours of waiting for ferry crossing on this route. During Eid, this suffering would increase by manifold.
The suffering of passengers has reduced significantly after the Padma Bridge opened. Now, most of the vehicles use the bridge, but passenger vehicles and trucks to Kushtia, Satkhira, Jashore, Magura, Faridpur and Rajbari still use the ferry route for convenience.
Moreover, outbound vehicle movement on the Bangabandhu Expressway to the southern districts via Padma Bridge was smooth on Monday. There was no traffic jam at the bridge’s toll plaza. The seven lanes of the bridge are continuously collecting tolls at normal speed. It has one lane for motorcycle crossing and six for private and heavy vehicles, including buses and trucks.
On the sixth day of advance ticket travel via train, the scenario at the Kamalapur Railway Station was different than other Eids as the crowd was moderate. Only those who booked tickets online on March 29 travelled on their seats on Monday. However, there were standing passengers on every train.
An official of Bangladesh Railway said that they started checking passengers in at 5:50am for six days. Members of different law enforcement agencies are with them to assist.
At least 38 trains left Kamalapur from Monday morning till 3:30pm. In the morning, Ekta Express left 45 minutes late and Burimari Express 30 minutes late.
Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Masud Sarwar said that everything was fine till afternoon. “Two trains left a little late. This is because two trains were late to arrive. The rest of the trains left the station for the destinations on time.”
Meanwhile, the number of passengers started to increase at Sadarghat on Monday. As the Padma Bridge has taken the pressure off the Barishal-bound launches, most of the crowd in launches is going on the Chandpur route. Passengers crowded the launches to Bhola and adjacent areas since noon as well. Several launches left for Bhola since morning.
Amirul Islam, staff of MV Surovi-9 launch that operates on the Dhaka-Barishal route, said that the number of their passengers dropped since the Padma Bridge was inaugurated. “However, on the occasion of Eid, the number of passengers has increased. Most of the cabins and seats are already booked.”
BIWTA sources said that there was no shortage of launches at the terminal and 58 launches left Dhaka for destinations throughout Monday. Several more launches will leave at night.
