Home-goers start leaving capital in large numbers

Terminals of all modes of transportation were full of thousands of passengers Thursday as home-goers started leaving the capital for celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones.
Gabtoli, Kalyanpur, Kalabagan, Mohakhali, Fulbaria, Sayedabad and Sadarghat areas in the city became overcrowded from Thursday noon as a significant number of Dhaka residents were seen going to their hometowns or villages.
Transport officials said a notable number of service holders were leaving the city who have managed two days' leave (July 27 and July 31 -- probably an office day) so that they could enjoy a nine- day leave from July 25 to August 2.
Eid will be observed on July 29 or July 30 based on sighting of the Shawal moon.
Md Helal Khan, a state-run bank official, was waiting for a Nilphamari-bound bus at the Nabil Paribahan counter Thursday afternoon.
He said many of his colleagues have managed leave for two days and are going to enjoy more than a week's vacation.
Until evening there was no sign of major traffic congestion in Nabinagar-Baipail-Mirzapur or Ashulia-Baipail-Mirzapur highway.
Manager of SR Paribahan, a north region bound bus operator, Md Aminul Kabir said rush of people started from Thursday noon and all the scheduled buses departed timely.
He said the main traffic jam was felt in Aminbazar Thursday evening.
He said traffic congestion may occur from this (Friday) morning in Ashulia-Baipail or Baipial-Chandra highway as a large number of buses both of private operators and of state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) are leaving the city at a time.   
Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS), Airport and Cantonment railway stations were full with passengers Thursday.
There was no room for smooth movement in the trains.
But, no schedule failure was noticed until Thursday noon.
KRS manager Khairul Bashir said crowd of ticket aspirants and the rush of home-goers had made the station a chaotic area in the city Thursday.
Hundreds of people were seen waiting on the queue to collect ticket for July 28. The advance rail ticket sale officially ended on the day.
Khairul Bashir said security had been beefed up at important railway stations, including Dhaka, Chittagong and Rajshahi.
Police, RAB, BGB, Ansar, RNB and GRP members have been deployed at the railway stations to maintain law and order.
Some 166 coaches have been added to the existing ones, while 205 engines are in on operation across the country to ensure smooth train services ahead of the Eid.
The whole Sadarghat and its adjacent areas were full with home-goers of coastal region.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) and private launch operators started special launch services from Thursday.
BIWTA chairman Shamsuddoha Khandaker told the FE: "We have taken special security measures at the Sadarghat launch terminal to avoid any untoward incident."
"We will use helicopters to enhance monitoring of movement of passenger vessels and check the overloading of passengers to avoid any untoward incidents ahead of the Eid," he told the FE.
Meanwhile, as part of the Eid special service, a total of 900 BRTC buses - 500 from Dhaka and 400 from elsewhere - stared their special service from July 21 to three days after Eid so that passengers can reach their destinations safely.