Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passenger welfare body, has demanded the extension of the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays by two days to reduce the suffering of passengers, anarchy over fares and road accidents during Eid travels.
The organization’s secretary general, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, voiced this demand at a press conference in Dhaka Reporters Unity’s Sagar-Runi Hall on Wednesday.
According to BJKS’s observations, 10 million from Dhaka, 4 million from Gazipur, 1.2 million from Narayanganj and 800,000 people from surrounding districts will travel to different districts of the country this Eid.
In the four days before Eid, 3 million passengers can travel by buses and minibuses, 4 million by train, 3.5 million by car, jeep and microbus, 1.2 million by motorcycle, 6 million by launch, and about 1 million by aeroplane.
Meanwhile, as many as 1.8 million passengers may travel on bus or train roofs, trucks and freighters due to a shortage of public transport and overcharging.
BJKS said about 40-50 million passengers will travel to different districts. From April 5 to April 14, there may be an additional 60 million passengers in different types of transport in the country due to various reasons including travel to markets and village homes during Eid.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said: "If proper use of public transport is not ensured, there may be a hellish situation during this year's Eid travels. Because if there are 30 days of fasting this time, Eid may fall on April 11.”
“There is only one public holiday on April 10 before Eid. There is a five-day holiday from April 10 to April 14. April 14 is Pohela Boishakh. Due to this, people from other religions will also go home. So, the number of passengers will increase,” he added.
He said: “On April 9 and 10, 6 to 7 million people will leave the capital every day. But our public transport has the capacity to carry 2.2 to 2.5 million people.
“If the Eid holidays are extended, counting on April 8 and 9, everyone will get a chance to go home starting April 5. The public transport crisis and passenger suffering will also decrease. For this reason, I demand an extension of the Eid holidays by two days,” he added.
There are reports in the media that there may be traffic jams at 714 spots in the country this Eid. Of these, 140 spots require close monitoring. Police and various intelligence agencies have alerted the government about 218 high-risk accident spots on 10 national and regional highways. Around 60% of road accidents happen in all these spots, the secretary general said.
Claiming that extortion by some unscrupulous law enforcement officials and transport leaders and various toll points cause traffic at various points on national highways, he said: “Extortion and toll points should be decongested on the roads during Eid. We demand that every road in the capital be freed from hawkers and illegal parking.”
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury demanded that strict measures be taken to stop the anarchy of excessive fare collection.
