As Bangladeshis prepare to celebrate the Eid in the coming days, it is always an expected phenomenon for people in the capital to travel to their hometowns for the holidays.
For the longest time, this homebound rush has always left roads, highways and waterways leading outside Dhaka in a state of utter entanglement bringing everything to a standstill. This is a repeated occurrence every year on the last few days leading up to both Eid-ul-fitr and Eid-ul-Adha.
It’s astonishing how little, if any, measures are taken by the administration to alleviate this issue, despite its predictability.
According to recent research by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), around three million people will leave Dhaka in each of the four days until Eid, putting intense stress on the entire travel network.
However, the pressure seems to have eased up this year to some degree, as roads and highways leading out of the capital are witnessing traffic that is not completely motionless. Slow moving as it is, the pressure on our infrastructure is still relatively low.
It’s still not enough.
The mass exodus of holiday-makers around Eid follows a predictable pattern, and there is absolutely no excuse for the lack of coordination amongst our infrastructure networks to not be prepared for it. Coordination is key, and the relevant authorities and ministries must instill that notion into the very way they operate.
The smooth flow of traffic out of the city during this time of the year is of the utmost importance, and we need to be better prepared for it, if not during the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha, then definitely starting next year.