Bangladesh’s Eid home rush: Traffic snarl-ups at city’s exit points

Although no major tailback on highways was reported, passengers witnessed traffic gridlocks at exit points.

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Home-goers boarding speedboats at Munshiganj’s Shimulia ferry terminal to cross the Padma. The pressure of passengers started increasing there after 4:00pm as a large chunk of Dhaka city dwellers left the capital yesterday as it was their last working day before Eid. Despite it being a riskier mode of transport, people opted to journey by speedboat as it can cross the river quicker than ferries and launches. Photo: Sajjad Hossain

April 29, 2022

DHAKA – A huge number of city dwellers left the capital yesterday as it was their last working day before Eid-ul-Fitr.

The city’s bus terminals, railway stations and the Sadarghat launch terminal, throughout the day, saw a mad rush of holidaymakers leaving Dhaka to celebrate the festival with their families.

Although no major tailback on highways was reported, passengers witnessed traffic gridlock at exit points.

Vehicular movement was slow on the Dhaka-Nabinagar highway in Savar. But traffic was smooth on all other highways across the country, said road transport and bridges ministry officials.

Meanwhile, many home-goers alleged that bus operators charged them higher than normal fares.

“Normally, I travel to Bonpara of Natore from Dhaka at Tk 500. But today [yesterday], I had to pay Tk 900,” said Shihabuddin while talking to The Daily Star at the Gabtoli bus terminal.

Faruk Hossain, an official of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, said, “Usually, 700-800 buses leave the Gabtoli terminal daily. But we hope that over 1,300 buses will leave today [yesterday].”

A large number of holidaymakers started thronging the Kamalapur Railway Station after yesterday afternoon.

At least four trains were delayed for around half an hour to two hours due to the pressure of passengers, said railway officials.

Around 100 launches were scheduled to leave the Sadarghat terminal yesterday, while 70-75 ply daily normally, said Alamgir Kabir, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.On the Paturia-Daulatdia and Aircha-Kazirhat ferry routes, the pressure of vehicles increased yesterday, though no long tailback was noticed there.

“I did not face much traffic at the terminal today [yesterday]. I could board a ferry within an hour,” said Abul Kashem, who was travelling to Faridpur.

The authorities concerned have made separate lanes for small and large vehicles near the terminals to ensure smooth vehicular movement.

Some 200 vehicles were seen waiting at the Paturia terminal around 2:00pm yesterday.

Currently, 20 ferries are operating on the Paturia-Daulatdia route and four on the Aricha-Kazirhat route, said BIWTC officials.

At the Shimulia ferry terminal in Munshiganj, the pressure of vehicles was high in the morning, which resulted in a long tailback. Vehicles had to wait for around five to six hours to get to the ferries. But the situation improved later.

However, launches and speedboats faced high pressure of passengers the whole day.

[Our Munshiganj and Manikganj correspondents contributed to this report.]

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