Like in the recent past, dilapidated roads this year threaten to spoil the Eid travel home once again. Excessive monsoon rain in the current year has exacted a heavy toll on the country's long-distance roads. Those include national, regional and local highways, most of which have been battered by rain badly. A number of these roads are now completely unfit for normal movement of long-haul vehicles. According to reports coming from across the country, condition of 14.32 per cent of the country's highways is now so miserable that they can no longer take in the load of speeding vehicles. A few others are travel-worthy, but journey by those roads might turn out to be a test in endurance and patience.
People in the big cities, including the capital, willing to go to their ancestral villages to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha have already started dithering about their decision. If the condition of the highways does not look up, they may have to opt for staying put. Because in the past years, after setting out for the Eid journeys, a lot of people had to put up with series of hardship and trouble on the road.
Apparently to avoid recurrence of this awkward situation, the ministry and the division concerned have started to swing into action. Eid-ul-Azha is still over a week away. Accordingly, repairs of the rain-battered highways, too, have begun with a view to making the roads usable for buses and smaller vehicles. However, the spectre of stop-gap solution keeps looming. In the not-too-distant past, people embarked on homebound journeys amid lofty assurance from the authorities concerned. Upon hitting the road, a lot of the home-bound people had to undergo the ordeals of travelling by shabbily repaired highways. Given the disappointing situation, the sufferers had expected the roads to be fully operative in the following years. Unfortunately, it did not happen.
Due to ours being a country in the cycle of prolonged monsoons, roads are prone to be affected by rains. It's an annual occurrence. Normally, a long-haul road journey during monsoon in the country accompanies scores of woes and sufferings. A large portion of them stems from bad condition of the highways and tailbacks. These travails multiply on the eve of the two Eid festivals if they fall in the monsoon. Against this backdrop, the government ought to make sure that the highways remain fully usable during the Eids. This is no big deal. The Ministry of Finance keeps aside funds, earmarked for routine road repairs, every year. It may also keep another tranche for emergency repairs ahead of the two Eids --- if monsoon comes by during their celebration. This step, in effect, will contribute to a well-planned and ideal upkeep of the highways.
However, the onus lies with the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and the Road Transport and Highways Division. It is them who are in charge of the country's roads.
As has been observed in the past, the government agencies do not embark on a job unless they are compelled to. Due to the fast-approaching Eid and the haste in completing the works, job quality has to be compromised. As a corollary, the spectacle of the massive struggle with road repair keeps returning year after year. People travelling home to celebrate Eid and later coming back to the city are fed up with this. They want the authorities to put an end to this old ritual.
shihabskr@ymail.com
Eid travel home and rain-battered roads
Shihab Sarkar | Published: September 13, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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