Homegoers face trouble all the way
Trains, buses, launches crammed as 6-day Eid vacation begins
Special Correspondent
As the six-day Eid-ul-Azha vacation began yesterday, the city witnessed the beginning of a massive exodus, with residents leaving for their homes to reunite with their near and dear ones. But trouble was awaiting them at the railway stations, on the highways and along the waterways,
with all modes of transport filled to their brim. Various kinds of transportation left the capital and could be seen dominating the roads at the beginning of the holidays, but the city streets were virtually devoid of their usual levels of congestion, barring some traffic in front of the shopping malls.
However, loads of trouble awaited the homebound people at the bus, rail and launch terminals. Bus companies told them to wait if they wanted to board their buses as the returning buses were not arriving on schedule, stuck as they were in the congestion on the highways.
All the highways were clogged, with traffic moving at a snails pace. It was especially difficult on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway since yesterday morning, given the slow flow of traffic with the cattle-carrying trucks.
The road to the northern districts was clogged, thanks to the trouble at the Daulatdia ferry terminal in Rajbari, causing a massive tailback on the Dhaka-Aricha highway. The terminals at Paturia on the other side have been washed away, thanks to erosion by the Padma.
However, traffic started moving sluggishly, since the authorities somehow managed to reopen the terminals yesterday with emergency repairs, our Manikganj correspondent reports. But the strong currents continued to be a source of headache to the ferry-masters to anchor their boats, slowing their movements. Our Tangail correspondent reports that the traffic flows on the highway to Dhaka from Bangabandhu Jamuna bridge were massive, as many trucks carrying cattle for the city markets from the southwest as well as other vehicles had been diverted from Daulatdia to reduce pressure on the limited ferry services there.
Some of these vehicles were rerouted to Mymensingh via Madhupur, with the authorities deploying the police and members from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for the job to reduce the load on the highways from Elenga to Gazipur, the correspondent said, quoting the officials.
As the problems were being resolved at the Jamuna bridge end with stricter discipline and management, the load of southwest-bound traffic impacted the movement of ferry services between Kewrakandi and Shimulia, leading to congestion of waiting vehicles at both the Kewrakandi and Shimulia terminals.
Strong currents and draught problems hamstrung the heavy Roll-on Roll-off (RO-RO) ferryboats to negotiate the Louhajang channel, heavily silted by the fast currents of a retreating Padma. This made it difficult for the boats to carry extra loads, thereby slowing down the movement of heavy vehicles like cattle carriers and buses across the vast expanse of the river, which continued to fall, sources with the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) said.
The trains, too, witnessed a heavy rush of passengers. Rail sources said their schedules were on time. But with the heavy rush of passengers, many climbed onto the rooftops of the trains, often risking their lives, as was reported from Sirajganjwhere at least 15 people were injured when they stuck cables overhead and fell from the roof, reports said yesterday. This incident highlighted the twin dangers of travelling on the rooftops of trains and of cables hung over the railway tracks, Rail sources remarked.
