Travails of home-bound people begin well before Eid

As home-bound people and holiday-makers brace for yet another Eid rush on way to reuniting with their families, friends and acquaintances, the old question that keeps popping up is, why the authorities fail to manage the situation better. Bangladesh is not the only densely populated country; nor is it alone to celebrate great festivals like the two Eids. Few countries in the world have to witness such mindless chaos and anarchy concerning people's journey home or to holiday resorts. Festivals for a section of people here mean an opportunity to make the most of the religious sentiment and joyous mood at the expense of others. Traders feel no qualms about arbitrarily raising prices and transport operators are guided by a similar ulterior motive to fleece travelling passengers. One of the reasons why the passenger rush is at its heaviest during festival times is because of the Dhaka or capital-centric administration, economy and livelihoods. Of the other cities, Chittagong and Khulna have attracted people owing to their pull factors. But when it comes to a staggering number of people's departure together from their work stations or temporary and permanent city residences, no urban centre other than the capital has to go through a nightmarish experience. So, basically the focus should be on long-route journey. Because the railway has not been given to play the role it deserves in transporting passengers and goods, the excessive dependence on buses as a mode of transport is mainly to be held blameable. Until or unless this mode of mass transit out of the capital is allowed to take charge of transportation of the majority of travellers either during normal time or festival time, both traffic gridlock and chaos and anarchy in transport sector are likely to remain endemic. It is foolish to think that the authorities turn a blind eye on their own to the bluffs by the transport operators or people at the railway ticket counters. If chaos and anarchy at the ticket counters and on the roads and highways reign supreme, the situation works in favour of some people including those who are supposed to keep watch over foul plays at the time. Or, else nothing can explain the black-marketing of tickets either at Sadar Ghat -the lone launch terminal, Kamalapur -the central railway station, Gabtoli, Syedabad and Mohakhali bus terminals. Anyone can see that these few stations and terminals can easily be brought under close vigilance by the law enforcement agencies. Even a number of magistrates can be assigned to keep tab on the sale of tickets for a week to 10 days before the Eid rush for home begins. Sure enough, such monitoring cannot be equal to the task of resolving the problem altogether but at least it can do justice to genuine travellers on the first-come-first-serve basis. People can be spared the needless trouble of running from one counter to another and given a clear picture of the tickets available or not. It is important to bring discipline in whatever is done to serve the public. On such occasions as Eid, such discipline can make a lot of difference in the chaotic situation.