A woman tired of waiting for her train having a good sleep inside the Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital on Saturday — FE Photo by Shafiqul Alam Sufferings of holidaymakers continued on Saturday amid severe breakdown of schedules of both trains and buses along with nagging traffic congestions on key highways.
Passengers of water ways also suffered at the Paturia terminal in Manikganj due to long tailback.
Though the government claimed that Eid journey was smooth with no traffic congestion, it takes a holidaymaker additional six to sixteen hours to reach their villages and home towns through different routes, claimed Bangladesh Passengers' Welfare Association (BPWA).
Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated tomorrow (August 12) across the country; the mad rush for going home started on Thursday noon (August 08).
Tariqul Islam, an official of a ceramic company, took 22 hours to reach his village at Jibannagar in Chuadanga on Saturday by an Eagle Paribahan bus. It usually takes eight hours for the same journey.
Md Azizur Rahman Rony, a Rangpur-bound passenger, said he got on Agamoni Paribahan bus at 10.30 am on Saturday which was scheduled to start at 11:30 pm on Friday.
He told the FE over phone that the bus was stuck at Tangail till 7:00 pm on Saturday.
On Saturday Md Mahbubul Hoque Sajal went to Kalyanpur to catch his 5:30 pm bus of Pabna Express.
"Counter manager has told us the bus would be there for us on Sunday morning," he said.
Our Tangail correspondent adds: Driver of Nabil Paribahan Md Majnu Mian who was stuck at Jamuki area at Tangail with his passengers, told the FE that it was a 60-km tailback from Kaliakoir to Bhuapur on Saturday.
"We are at Tangail for the last seven hours," he said at 7:00 pm.
He said the presence of limited people of law enforcement agencies was creating troubles for the vehicles.
When asked, Assistant superintendent of Police (ASP) of Tangail Deapankar Ghosh told the FE that a total of above 700 police were working at Tangail to ensure smooth journey on highways.
Secretary of Bangladesh Passengers' Welfare Association Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury told the FE that it takes additional six to sixteen hours to go to villages and towns from Dhaka amid traffic congestions and breakdown of schedule of vehicles.
He said schedule of private operators almost collapsed for the last two days as most buses were eight to fourteen hours late at counters in Dhaka.
He said passengers of 44 routes of northern, north-western, southern and south-western regions were going through miseries.
The same thing is happening with the train passengers as most of the trains were eight to twelve hours late, Mr Hoque said.
He also said apart from delay in scheduled buses and trains, severe traffic congestion was intensifying woes of common people.
However, the road transport minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said there was no tailback on highways and people were going homes without hassle.
The minister, while addressing the newspeople on the day at Mahakhali Bus Terminal, claimed buses were just moving slowly.
Lalmoni Express, a northern bound train was scheduled to leave Kamalapur Station at 10.30 am on Saturday but was rescheduled at 11:00 pm on the day. Bangladesh Railway (BR), however, on Saturday declared new schedule of trains to different routes to carry Eid holidaymakers following massive disruption.
Trains to different routes were delayed by eight to fourteen hours, officials said.
As per the new timing Khulna-bound Sundarban Express train was scheduled to leave Kamalapur station at 1.30 pm, Nilsagor Express at 6.10 pm instead of 8.40 am, Rangpur Express at 10.35 pm instead of 9.00 am.
During a visit, Kamalapur station was found full of passengers showing anger and distress for the schedule disruption.
Even after waiting for long hours many of them could not sit on their designated seats since there were many standing passengers around.
A Khulna-bound passenger Maruf Hasan Pias said he had been waiting at the station to leave Dhaka by Sundarban Express.
"We have been waiting here for six hours for the train, which was scheduled to start at 6.20 am," said Mr Alam.
He said many trains were reaching Kamalapur with overflow of passengers as many passengers boarded on the trains at Airport or other stations to ensure their seats or space to stand.
The passengers expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of authorities concerned for failing to ease the Eid journey.
Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Aminul Islam told the media the schedule disrupted mainly due to the accident that took place on Friday afternoon at the east side of Bangabandhu Bridge.
He mentioned each of the trains was running with passengers beyond their seat capacities.
He also said the passengers who want to cancel their tickets due to schedule disruption can contact counter 1 to 5 at the Kamalapur station.
They will get full refund without paying any charge, he added.
Passengers of river-ways also witnessed severe misery for tailback in major routes in Daultadia and Paturia.
Hundreds of buses that left the capital for their destinations were stuck in a long tailback at Paturia ferry terminal, causing immense sufferings to the home-bound Eid holidaymakers.
"A long queue of vehicles extending more than 28 kilometres has thrown everything into disorder," Assistant Manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's Aricha office Zillur Rahman said.
Police officials said there were above 5,000 private cars stuck in the tailback that extended from Paturia ferry terminal to Manikganj town.
Superintendent of Manikganj Police Rifat Rahman Shamim said they were trying to ease congestion on the highway.
Mohiuddin Russel, director of BIWTA Aricha office, said a good number of passenger buses and cattle-laden trucks put an extra pressure on Friday night.
"Only one ferry was arranged to tackle the situation during Eid-ul-Azha though it was decided to arrange three new ferries," he said, adding that nineteen ferries were currently operating on the route.
Passenger buses and trucks carrying cattle and perishable items were being allowed on ferries on priority basis, the director said.
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