Buses, launches hardly go by hygiene norms

The Sadarghat launch terminal witnessed increased rush of homebound passengers on Thursday as a large number of people left the city for their respective village homes to celebrate the holy Eid-ul-Azha, which will be observed in Bangladesh tomorrow (Saturday).
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the passengers were seen hardly following the health safety guidelines.
Visiting the terminal on the day, the FE correspondent found that the passengers of different routes expressing their utter dissatisfaction as they were compelled to pay extra money for their journey by launch.
Normally the fare for traveling on deck on Dhaka-Barishal route is ranged between Tk 180 and Tk 200 per person, but the passengers said they had to pay Tk 220 to Tk 250.
Neither the launch operators, nor the passengers were following the health safety guidelines while almost all the launches of different routes were seen boarding passengers beyond their capacities.
An official of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) admitted that they could not check the huge exodus of passengers in following the health safety protocol.
The city's three major bus terminals also witnessed a huge rush of homebound passengers as they made their all-out efforts to embark on their journeys.
The passengers had to suffer a lot at Gabtoli, the largest bus terminal in the capital, as some buses were running behind their respective schedules.
Khalil Hawlader, a Barisal-bound passenger of Eagle Paribahan, said he was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 5:30am, but was waiting for two hours as the bus could not reach the terminal from outside the capital city.
The passengers also found it hard to reach the bus terminals due to the mad rush of the people while the buses could not reach the terminal timely from outside Dhaka due to the tailbacks on the highways.
Visiting Mohakhali bus terminal on the day, the FE correspondent found long queue of the passengers standing in front of the ticket counters of different bus routes.
"I have paid Tk 400 to go to Mymensingh," said Md Maksud Sarcar, a passenger, expressing his frustration. Normally the bus fare from Dhaka to Mymensingh is Tk 200 to Tk 250 per passenger.
Most of the bus operators also were ignoring the health safety guidelines while they were carrying passengers by flouting the government-set ceiling regarding the number of passengers.
However, the trains were operating as usual through maintaining the health safety guidelines.
The platforms at Kamalapur Railway Station were not that much crowded as the authorities did not allow anyone to be there without ticket.
The city saw frenzied towards the evening as many working men and women joined the home-goers after the office hours apparently to avoid the last minute pressure during the next two days.
Those who had no advance tickets have to wait for hours for tickets.

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