Those who had left for their hometowns for Eid-ul-Fitr have started streaming back into Dhaka. After enjoying nine days of leave, government servants will join work today. Thousands of passengers were seen getting off buses at the inter-district terminals like Gabtoli, Mahakhali and Sayedabad yesterday. Sadarghat was teeming with passengers from southern districts. Kamalapur railway station was flooded with passengers returning to work. Many of them complained about not getting tickets, delays, and overloaded trains. The Dhaka-Rajshahi Silk City train reached Kamalapur at 2.30pm, 40 minutes behind schedule. Nazmul Karim, a passenger, grumbled that the train was overcrowded. A passenger from Sylhet on the Kalni Express also had the same complaint.
Sitangshu Chakrabarti, the station-master at Kamalapur, said, “Some trains were late by five to ten minutes. The massive pressure of passengers is leading to delays.”
Bus passengers, however, said they did not suffer much. Ajmal Hossain, a passenger from Lalmonirhat, reached Gabtoli yesterday afternoon. He said the roads were almost clear barring a small traffic knot at Kaliakoir. Sadarghat launch terminal had more or less its usual traffic yesterday, but the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority authorities said the pressure would start from Saturday night.