Ensuing Eid and home-bound passengers

Each year during the Eid holidays, we see a huge number of people leaving Dhaka for their village homes to celebrate Eid with their near and dear ones. It is a joyful occasion and people indeed enjoy sharing the joys of festivity with their loved ones. But the difficulties that they are subjected to in doing so are immeasurable. Most people encounter a painful experience each time they intend to travel during Eid holidays either by a train or a bus. Problems start with tickets and are compounded by dilapidated roads and severe traffic congestions caused by road condition and reckless driving. Women, children and elderly people are the worst sufferers. It seems to me that the concerned authorities wake up only when the holidays come closer and try to mitigate the sufferings of the travellers. I am sure the scenario will not be very different this year. Most of the highways are not well maintained and their dilapidated condition only adds to miseries of the passengers. Had the road been maintained properly and regularly, difficulties of the passengers would have been far less. Eid is a little over two weeks away and soon Eid frenzy would grip the country. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope that the situation will be better than before and people moving out of Dhaka to celebrate Eid will have a trouble-free and peaceful trip.
Mohammed Fardeen
Badda, Dhaka
sohelhara@hotmail.com