Eid: Holidaymakers leave capital amid usual suffering

People who travel from the capital to various destinations across the country during Eid festivals will tell you one thing: It is mostly not a pleasant experience.

Official holidays for Eid-ul-Adha, to be held on 29 June, began on Tuesday. Those who left Dhaka by Monday got off easy but those who embarked on their journey on Tuesday morning did not have a smooth ride.

As a large number of people started moving at once, it created gridlocks at various points on highways, crowds at stations and disruption in the schedule of buses and trains, causing immense suffering to passengers on the road, rail and waterways.

Every Eid, the government makes various preparations to ensure a hassle-free journey for people. But such initiatives seem to fall short every time.

On Tuesday, most of the trains for the western part of the country left the Kamalapur Railway station half an hour to two hours late. In addition, inter-district buses failed to arrive on time at the counters and were late by two to four hours.

Although the journey through Padma Bridge was quite smooth, the passengers of the northern districts faced gridlocks at various points on the highways. It took passengers several hours more than the usual time to reach Rajshahi and Rangpur from Gabtoli via Tangail, Bangabandhu Bridge, and Sirajganj. 

A number of bus passengers alleged that many bus counters were charging extra fares citing vehicle shortage.

Long queues of passengers standing for tickets were seen at Kamalapur railway station as 25% of tickets for the "Shobhan class" were sold from the station. Bangladesh Railway sold most of the train tickets online during this Eid.

Passengers were seen riding on the roof of trains on Tuesday afternoon as there was no space available inside the coaches. 

In addition, many people have left the capital without getting public transport, riding in trucks and pickups.

The situation was comparatively better during the Eid-ul-Fitr as people were able to experience a hassle-free journey, thanks to some stern measures taken by the authorities concerned.

This Eid too, the Road Transport and Highways Department decided to increase the activities of the highway police on the roads to ensure smoother traffic through round-the-clock monitoring. Trucks are not allowed to run on the roads except for essential goods for seven days.

Apart from removing banners, festoons and posters from roads and highways, it was also decided to toughen measures against vehicles without fitness, route permits and unlicensed drivers.

But, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that it will be somewhat challenging to ensure a smooth Eid journey this time due to the markets of sacrificial animals set up on the highway, the slowness of trucks carrying cattle and the seasonal rain.

The minister directed people concerned to ensure an orderly environment in the cattle markets that will be set up on the side of the highways.

Despite measures taken by authorities, the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway witnessed a long tailback on Tuesday morning.

In a series of unfortunate events, accidents, vehicle breakdowns, reckless driving, and the temporary suspension of toll collection have resulted in a severe traffic jam spanning an 8km stretch on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway. 

Although there was heavy traffic on the Tangail highway in the afternoon, there was no traffic congestion till 6 pm. However, gridlocks were formed at various places on the Dhaka-Sirajganj highway after 7 pm.

Rakib Hossain, the driver of SI Paribahan of Sirajganj, said that it took him more than four hours to reach the bridge from the Kamaksha intersection of the highway.

Al Amin, a sub-inspector (SI) of Bangabandhu Bridge East Police Station, said the number of vehicles on the road is much higher than the carrying capacity of the bridge. Also, vehicles are moving at a slow pace due to accidents and vehicle breakdowns on the bridge.

It takes six hours to reach Bagura from Dhaka by bus but on Tuesday it took nine to 10 hours due to tailbacks. 

Rakibul Islam, a bus passenger from Dhaka to Bogra, said that the bus was 20 minutes late to arrive at the counter. It took more than an hour and a half to cross Savar from Kalyanpur. Chandra in Gazipur, Elenga in Tangail, the eastern end of the Bangabandhu bridge and the entrance to Bagura from Sirajganj were also congested.

Touhidul Islam Sajib arrived in Kurigram on Tuesday afternoon after a 17-hour journey leaving Dhaka at 7 pm on Monday. He said that it took about 6 hours to cross Chandra in Gazipur from the Mohakhali bus terminal.

Bagura's SR Paribahan bus counter manager Md Arefin said, "Due to the traffic jam on both sides of Bangabandhu Bridge, and in Chandra in Gazipur, it was not possible for buses to maintain the schedule. Gridlocks are forming due to heavy traffic of livestock vehicles."

On the contrary, the journey of the passengers of the western and southern regions through the Padma Bridge was free of traffic congestion. There was no traffic jam on the bridge's 12-km link road and 55-km expressway.

However, heavy traffic was seen at the toll plazas on the expressway at various times.

Mohammad Nahin Reza, the executive engineer of Munshiganj Roads and Highways Division, said, "Additional manpower is employed at the Dhaleswari toll plaza of the Mawa expressway. There are two automatic toll collection booths at both ends." 

He also said that if there is no accident, the traffic pressure will not increase.

But low traffic pressure was seen in front of the Padma Bridge toll plaza.

Md Amirul Haider Chowdhury, additional director at Padma Bridge Site Office, said there is not much pressure in front of the Padma Bridge toll plaza. Cars can cross the Padma Bridge without any problems.

Although there is no traffic jam on the expressway, passengers leaving the bus counters in the capital have to suffer a lot of hurdles before reaching the expressway.

Sheikh Abdullah, a private employee, bought an advance ticket to go to Khulna by a Dola Paribahan bus from Sayedabad at 3 pm. The bus did not arrive at the counter on time. He started his journey at 7:30 pm.

The staff of the Dola Paribahan counter said that the buses coming from Khulna could not reach the capital on time due to traffic congestion, mainly formed at the entry points of Dhaka. 

Increased traffic pressure was also observed on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, starting from Aminbazar.

Dhaka District (North) Traffic Police Inspector (Administration) Hossain Shahid Chowdhury told The Business Standard that, although the pressure of outgoing vehicles increased on the highway from Tuesday afternoon, there was no gridlock anywhere until evening.

Huge pressure at Sadarghat

Since the launch of the Padma Bridge, the launches from Sadarghat have not seen much of a rush, but on Tuesday every launch was full of passengers. Besides, there was huge traffic on the road from Gulistan to Sadarghat.

Alamgir Kabir, the joint director of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said, "There is a passenger rush at the terminal today. From Tuesday morning till the afternoon, 64 vessels brimming with home-bound people left Dhaka Sadarghat. Till late at night, around 130 vessels left Sadarghat with passengers on 40 routes."

Delays in train departures

The joys of Eid travels have been slightly dampened by excessive passenger pressure and delays in train departures.

On Tuesday morning, the first day of public holidays for Eid-ul-Adha, Kamalapur rail station witnessed heightened pressure from railway passengers. 

Most trains were also delayed by up to two hours. But station authorities claim that they are not responsible for the delay in the departure of the trains. Some trains arrived at the station late and thus took extra time to leave.

"We had to carry out an adequate inspection considering the safety of passengers during Eid. Because of this, some trains in the western region have been delayed by half an hour to an hour," said Kamalapur Station Manager Masud Sarwar.

Rajshahi-bound Dhumketu Express failed to leave the station on time. Instead of the scheduled time of 6 am, the train left at 8:04 am.

Nilsagar Express going toward Chilahati was scheduled to leave at 6:40 am but it left Kamalapur at 8:17 am.

Rangpur Express left Kamalapur at the scheduled time of 9:10 am but Panchagarh-bound Ekota Express left 22 minutes late.

The Khulna-bound Sundarban Express was scheduled to leave at 8:15 am, but it left Kamalapur 50 minutes late at 9:50am.