Eid home-goers' trips pick up in Ctg
Total 17,000 to 20,000 passengers leave Chattogram by trains everyday for Eid celebration
Our Correspondent | Thursday, 14 June 2018
CHATTOGRAM, Jun 13: With only two or three days left for the Eid-ul-Fitr, holidaymakers' journey to celebrate the festival outside the port city has gained full momentum.
The home-goers are leaving the port city making a hazardous journey, especially on the highways and roads.
The train passengers are enjoying a smooth journey although most of the trains leave Chattagram 10 to 15 minutes later due to various reasons, railway officials said. But the bus passengers who could not buy railway tickets even after daylong wait in the Chattogram railway station are doomed to suffer on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and other highways up to their destinations.
Eid trips by trains started on Monday but there was no unusual rush of passengers in the trains on the first two days, said an official at the Chattogram Railway (East zone) adding that the number of train passengers was expected to increase yesterday (Wednesday).
"The Eid holiday will start on Friday. Many people left the city on Wednesday getting on trains and a good number of them availed standing tickets, he said.
"On Thursday and Friday, there will be seen a huge rush of passengers in almost all modes of transport," said a booking clerk at the Shyamoli Bus Counter at the BRTC Bus Station.
Station Master of Chattogram Railway Station Md Nazim Uddin said 25 trains, including two special ones, left Chattogram for different destinations on Wednesday.
Besides issuing regular tickets in the first week of June, the station has issued a good number of standing tickets for all trains from Chattogram.
Standing tickets are issued only one hour before departure of a train.
Total 17,000 to 20,000 passengers left Chattogram by the trains everyday for Eid festival, he said.
"Two special trains have been arranged which will be available from today (Wednesday)," Nazim Uddin said, adding the special trains will be in operation till the day before Eid.
The railway authorities and some non-government organisations have opened free medical camps for the train passengers at the Chattogram railway station.
Many passengers were seen taking primary health care at the station on Wednesday morning.
Teams of the Rapid Action Battalion, police, Ansar and railway police have remained deployed in and around the station to provide security to the passengers.