Eid ul Azha is one of the most important religious festivals for Muslims, bringing with it a wave of joyous celebrations, familial reunions, and a considerable surge in inter-city travel across Bangladesh primarily away from the capital city.
As millions of people journey to their hometowns, our transport infrastructure faces inordinate strain every year, making safety and convenience critical concerns. While the government can be seen addressing these challenges every year, due to a lack of coordinated effort from the government, our transport operators, and even the wider public, the challenges are almost always unmet.
Indeed, the second largest highway in the country -- the Dhaka-Tangail Bangabandhu Bridge Highway -- is expected to face significant traffic congestion during this year's Eid journey. Given just how much traffic this one stretch of road sees during the holidays, it is imperative that the government take every measure possible to ensure the smooth flow of vehicles, measures such as barring unfit vehicles from plying the road would absolutely go some way towards ensuring that.
It is equally important that holiday-makers opting to take trains do not face any issues when purchasing tickets.
By implementing strategic measures, we can ensure that the festive season is marked by happiness and not marred by avoidable tragedies -- around 13,500 tickets for West Zone were sold out within the first three hours after Bangladesh Railway started selling advance train tickets for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha on Sunday, proving just how popular trains are as a mode of transportation in Bangladesh.
Given the nigh yearly nature of Eid travels, it is rather disappointing that holiday-makers have to face the same issues year after year. It is high time we started demanding better coordination from the relevant authorities in ensuring that no one faces any friction when going home for the holidays.
