With the Eid-ul-Azha only three days away and city dwellers having already started to leave the capital for Eid and Puja holidays, homebound people are facing traffic gridlocks on highways, long tailbacks near ferry terminals and late departure of trains and buses.
With the flow of homebound passengers at its peak, hundreds of people were seen waiting for hours for buses and launches at major terminals of the capital while many were waiting at Kamalapur Railway Station and Airport Railway Station as 16 intercity trains missed their schedules yesterday.
The Dhaka Tribune found that almost all buses going out of the capital missed their schedules due to traffic gridlocks on the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Chittagong highways. At Shyamoli, Kallyanpur and Gabtoli bus counters, passengers were seen waiting for hours for their scheduled buses.
At Kamalapur Railway Station, many passengers who were able to manage standing tickets could not board their trains due to heavy pressure of passengers. After train schedules jumbled up on Wednesday night, the Mohanagar Probhati train reached the station three and a half hours late while the Ekota Express of Dhaka-Dinajpur route and Drutojan Express were three hours late. The Rangpur Express was left the station one and a half hours late.
The Agnibina Express of Dhaka-Jamalpur route had so many passengers that many homegoers could not find space even on rooftop.
As the vacations start Friday as weekly holiday with Bijaya Dashami on Saturday and Eid-ul-Azha for the next three days, most city dwellers took the chance of making the most out of their 5-day government holiday by setting off for their home towns yesterday.
As a result, most exit points of the capital were jam packed with commuters since yesterday afternoon.
Apart from that, cattle-laden vehicles coming into the capital and illegal cattle markets at different city points had also added to the woes of the home-bound commuters.
Although traveling during the vacations last year remained almost hazard free, rainfall on the last days of September has worsened the condition of the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways. As a result, vehicles have been moving slow on these roads.
Tickets sold out, vehicles overloaded
As tickets of bus, train and launch cabins has been sold out two days earlier, home-bound people now struggle towards their home with much trouble and anxiety.
Tension among commuters were witnessed at capital’s Gabtoli bus terminal, Kamalapur Railway Station and Sadarghat Launch Terminal as the rush of people gradually increased following sunset.
“I have not able to secure a bus ticket for my home in Khulna. Now, I have only two options, one is by launch and another is by traveling by local bus changing one after one” said Hamid, a private company executive, who came to Gabtoli bus terminal to find out how he, along with his wife and their two children, can safely reach their home town.
As bus tickets for different routes were already sold out, flow of people dramatically rose at Kamalpur Railway station and Sadarghat launch terminal from Thursday evening.
At Sadarghat Launch Terminal, most of the launch were carrying passengers above its capacity as the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) failed to stop the rush of people who are desperate to reach their home by any means necessary.
A BIWTA official Siddiqur Rahman denied the allegation and said: “No vessel had allowed passengers on its rooftop. Some people went to the rooftop to get some fresh air. They will come down from the rooftops when the launch leaves the terminal.”
Meanwhile, suffering of passengers were heightened as major exit points of Dhaka were congested with traffic jam due to different unplanned cattle markets.
Requesting for anonymity, a traffic police official at the Gabtoli temporary traffic control room told Dhaka Tribune: “Actually, the traffic condition worsens during Eid-ul-Azha as thousands of people gather here to leave the capital while hundreds of cattle-laden trucks enter the city through this point at the same time.
“Thus, it becomes too hard for us to manage all these issues but we have no other options. We are trying our best to minimise the hassle of the home-bound people” he added.
It is seen at Gabtoli bus terminal that many mini buses were calling for passengers for inter-district service, although they were not fit for such long-distance journeys.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, some drivers of such mini bus said they were trying to lure those who were not fortunate enough to manage tickets for their destinations.
“Such special service brings us huge profits during the Eid season,” said one bus driver.
However, the situation becomes worse for low-income people as they cannot afford regular bus, launch or train tickets for their destination. Many of them come together and hire a truck for their journey.
Cattle market clogged city entrance from Chittagong
With the temporary cattle market at Shanir Akhra stretching from the Kutubkhali to Rayerbagh, Dhaka-Chittagong highway’s opening into the capital become narrower for the long route outbound vehicles. Cattle traders have also put up barricades to separate lanes while the leasers of the market had extended their boundary on the road.
As the cattle traders occupied a portion of the main road, vehicles are now facing problems to get on and off from the flyover. As a result hundreds of vehicles for Chittagong, Comilla, Noakhali, Feni, Naraynganj, Rangamati, Bandarbans, Chandpur, Laxmipur districts were seen stuck from Signboard area to Jatrabari.
50km tailback on Dhaka-Tangail highway
A 50-kilometre long tailback had formed on Dhaka-Tangail highway early Thursday after several vehicles broke down on the road.
Elenga highway police outpost Sergeant Kamruzzaman Raj said: “The traffic gridlock was created after some vehicles broke down at Pungli, Tangail bypass, Karotia, Pakulla and some other places on the highway since 4am Thursday.”
The tailback stretched from Elenga of Tangail to Chandra of Gazipur. Most vehicles were moving very slowly due to the tailback, the police official said.
Rezaul Haque, a driver of a cattle-laden truck from Kustia, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge at 7:00am and it took us four and half hour to reached at Tangail bypass area which normally it takes only an hour”.
“Vehicular movement came to normal after 12:00pm,” said Kamruzzaman.
Tailback at Mawa-Kaorakandi Ferry Ghat
The queue of vehicles waiting to board ferries at Kaorakandi ferry terminal stretched much longer than usual due to huge pressure of cattle-laden trucks.
There were three long queues of hundreds of goods-laden trucks and covered van stretching from Pacchar at Shibchar of Madaripur on Dhaka-Khulna Highway. Many cattle traders were seen ferrying their cattle on trawlers as the trucks had to wait for ferry for long.
Salam Hossain, manager of BIWTC at Kawrakandi terminal, said 16 ferries of 17 were in service for Eid.
“The pressure of vehicles will come under control within Friday,” he hoped.
