Passengers travel on the rooftop of a launch while leaving the city to enjoy the Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones back in villages. The photo was taken from the Buriganga-1 Bridge Thursday. — FE Photo by Shafiqul Alam
A significant portion of home-goers left the city Thursday for their respective homes for celebrating Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja with their near and dear ones.
However, the holiday-makers had to face hassles due to increased crowds at launch terminals and railway stations and for tailbacks at some points of the key highways.
People's rush increased Thursday as it was the last official day before the Eid and Puja vacation beginning from today (October 3) and ending on October 7.
Movement of the increased number of vehicles carrying sacrificial animals towards the capital also contributed to the traffic congestion on Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Chittagong highways, badly affecting normal schedule of private buses.
Most of the launches left the city terminal with excessive passengers while prices of tickets were higher compared to those of normal days, passengers alleged.
Private bus operators said the Dhaka-Sirajganj highway witnessed no major traffic jam Thursday although Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh routes witnessed long tailbacks.
Halt in train communication Thursday morning also forced a number of passengers to choose highways desperately which increased the number of vehicles on the highways, he pointed out.
Manager of Nabil Paribahan Md Shafiq Ahmed said the situation was quite okay until noon, but the scenario started changing after evening with the increasing number of vehicles.
He said a significant number of their buses failed to enter the city from distant districts on time which might result in a schedule failure at night.
Officer in-Charge (OC) of Gorai Highway Police Station Jobaidul Alam told the Tangail FE correspondent Shahabuddin Manik that no tailback was noticed after Thursday morning.
But, the vehicles were moving slowly at Elenga point, he said.
Makeshift shops on the roads in places and a number of cattle-laden trucks caused the sluggishness, he said.
Train communications of Chittagong with Dhaka and Sylhet were halted as five compartments of a train derailed near Chinki Astana station in Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong Thursday morning.
Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS) officials said trains of different routes were late by one to two hours on the day.
Like the previous times, there were many passengers on the rooftops defying high risk of accidents.
The number of waterway passengers increased manifold on the day at Sadarghat Launch Terminal compared to those of previous occasions.
Private launch operators said nearly 70 launches left the city towards 50 destinations until evening and another 50 vessels were to leave by mid-night.
Most of the launches were overloaded with home-goers.
However, hundreds of people were still on a search for tickets to go to their homes.
Ebadur Rahman Pial, a buying house official, told the FE at Mazar Road, Gabtoli Thursday morning that he was searching for two tickets of Panchagarh.
"I managed to get three tickets but need another two for my family," he said.
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