Dhaka-bound travellers, who are coming back from their Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, are seeing a huge rush of vehicles and passengers as several districts have reported lengthy traffic delays on Saturday.
A 10km-long gridlock at the Daulatdia ferry terminal in Rajbari caused immense suffering to holidaymakers from the south-west regions of the country.
Long queues of passenger vehicles and trucks carrying perishable goods were seen standing still from the terminal’s zero point on Dhaka-Khulna Highway.
Many people reported that they had to wait about 10 hours to get to the terminal in the scorching hot summer.
Meanwhile, the launch terminals were also swamped with passengers, who had to walk around one-and-a-half kilometers to reach the docks.
The launches were seen boarding more passengers than their capacity.
Traffic on the Tangail’s Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway on Saturday, May 7, 2022 Dhaka TribuneOmar Farooq, manager at Rajbari Brac Bank, said he was waiting in the tailback for about an hour. "I left Rajbari at 7am and got stuck in a traffic jam 5km away from the terminal. I am going to Dhaka for emergency work, and I don’t know if I will be able to reach on time.”
A passenger of the “Saudia Paribahan” bus, Topu, said: “We reached Daulatdia terminal last night, and still could not get into a ferry. I don’t think authorities are operating enough ferries here.”
The route is now being used by 21 small and large ferries and 21 launches to transport vehicles and passengers, he added.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people also thronged the Paturia ferry terminal on Saturday morning to return to Dhaka.
Many of them claimed that they were left with no option but to board buses charging more to avoid travelling on overcrowded ferries, reports UNB.
A similar scenario was observed at Tangail’s Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway as well.
According to the bridge authorities, a total of 31,917 vehicles have crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge in the last 24 hours till Saturday morning.
The authorities have collected Tk2.54crore toll from vehicles crossing the bridge that connect the northern part of the country with the capital. Of them, around Tk1.19 crore was collected from Dhaka-bound vehicles.
Elenga Highway police outpost Officer-in-Charge Ataur Rahman said traffic on the highway increased since Friday evening, as the Eid holidays have ended.
Our correspondents Rashedul Hasan Kajal, Rajbari, and Abdullah Al Numan, Tangail contributed to this report
