Mad rush of home-goers to celebrate Eid festival

Railway stations, bus and launch terminals witnessed a mad rush of home-bound passengers as most of them left the capital on Wednesday to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones in their village homes on Friday.
The holiday-makers, irrespective of their ages, professions and social strata, were found leaving the capital amid rains and inclement weather on the day, the last working day. The three-day Eid-ul-Azha holiday starts today (Thursday).
The home-goers made frantic efforts to embark on their journeys braving rains and defying all hassles to celebrate the festival of sacrifice of animals across the country tomorrow (Friday).
The exodus of holidaymakers from the capital began on Tuesday last to avoid last-moment rush. Many people, especially government and private service-holders, sent their wives and children earlier to their respective villages.
Around four to five million holidaymakers were supposed to leave the capital for celebrating Eid with their family members, according to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Thousands of people thronged Mohakhali, Gabtali and Sayedabad bus and Sadarghat launch terminals from early morning on the day.
The passengers had to suffer a lot as they had to wait for long hours at the terminals to get on buses and launches.
Kamalapur and airport railway stations in the capital also witnessed a big rush of passengers waiting for trains.
Most of the buses could not maintain their departure schedules as the returning buses from different destinations could not return to the terminals on time due to tailbacks on the highways,  
Visiting the Sayedabad bus terminal, the FE correspondent found thousands of home-bound passengers waiting for long hours to board buses for their respective destinations.  
"I will go to Comilla. I came to the terminal at around 9:00 am with my family members. The bus was scheduled to leave the terminal at 10:00 am. But it is yet to return back to the terminal from Comilla," Mohammad Barek told the FE.
The bus arrived at the terminal at around 11:00 am and left at 11:30 am.     
"We faced trouble in maintaining schedules as our buses returning from Chittagong could not reach the terminal due to traffic congestions at various points on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway," Md Matin, an employee of a transport service told the FE.
Visiting the Dhaka river port terminal at Sadarghat on the day, the FE correspondent saw most of the launches of different destinations leaving the terminal much later than their respective scheduled time.
Most roads in the old part of the city witnessed huge tailbacks as onrush of vehicles carrying homebound passengers to the launch terminal clogged the streets.
"I came from Savar to the terminal at 8:00 am. I boarded the launch at 8:30 am. It was scheduled to leave the terminal at 9:00 am. But it is now about 11:00 am. I don't know when it will leave," Md Abdul Matin, a private service-holder who was going to Barisal for celebrating Eid with his family members, told the FE. The launch, however, left the terminal at 11:30 am.   
"I took an additional day off on Wednesday to leave for my village home," Md Alam, a Patuakhali-bound passenger told the FE on the day. He said he had purchased a single cabin at Tk 1,500 which was usually Tk 1,000.
A total of over 60 launches left Sadarghat terminal since morning until evening, according to the officials of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).  
Most of the trains of different routes left the Kamalapur railway station in time. But some Rajshahi and Dianjpur-bound trains left the station a little bit later than scheduled time.
The number of homebound passengers will increase today (Thursday).
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com