Homebound passengers suffer as Eid draws near

With Eid-ul-Azha drawing near, homebound passengers are suffering while traveling to celebrate the festival with families.

Every railway and bus station including the roads of Gazipur was overcrowded since the early hours of Friday.

Lack of seats in trains and buses forced hundreds of Mohanganj, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, and Tangail-bound people to travel on rooftops of speeding vehicles.

Meanwhile, traffic congestion had flared up at various places on the 12km road from Tongi to Joydebpur since Thursday. 

 Dhaka Tribune

People travelling by the Dhaka-Tangail Highway also reported similar issues. A 20km long tailback was reported on Friday morning.

One of the reasons for the traffic congestion on the roads, according to the traffic department of Gazipur Metropolitan Police, is that thousands of homebound families had to wait on roads as they could not manage vehicles for their destination.

Ahsanul Haque, assistant commissioner (North Traffic) of Gazipur Metropolitan Police said 323 officers have taken position to keep the traffic on the highway normal. 

“The vehicle pressure has increased since Friday morning. A portion of the highways is occupied by people waiting for vehicles to reach their destinations, causing gridlocks,” he added.

The officer further said: “Apart from this, two lanes on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway are closed as work on the BRT project from Tongi Bridge to Chandana intersection is in progress.”

 Dhaka Tribune

Manik Mia, a homebound traveller, told Dhaka Tribune that he managed to reach Gazipur’s Tongi from Dhaka Airport Railway Station by holding on to a train’s gate. He later managed to get on the train’s roof after crossing Joydebpur Junction.

Another traveller, Md Khalilur Rahman, said he had been waiting with his family for a Mymensingh-bound train at Sreepur Railway Station. “I managed to get on a train but my family members couldn’t due to the crowd.”

Afzal Hossain has left with his family to go to Ullapara in Sirajganj. It took them about two hours to reach Chandra in Gazipur, which is about 21km away.