6 mn to leave capital as Eid mass exodus begins

City dwellers in their thousands started leaving the capital city as they headed for their village homes to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones enduring the difficulties of transportations as the six-- day Eid vacation began on Friday, reports the UNB.

 

As Thursday was the last office day for the government and semi-government officials and employees before the Eid, a larger number of holidaymakers already left the capital after Thursday evening. The mad rush of home goers will continue until Monday, a day ahead of the Eid, according to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). 

 

Meanwhile, most of the city streets are seen with thin traffic since this noon, but the roads adjacent to both exit and entry points of the capital are witnessing huge tailbacks.

 

Kamalapur Railway Station, three major bus terminals and Sadarghat Ferry Terminal witnesses a frenzied rush since early morning with the home-goers waiting for their transports to reach their desired destinations.

 

Trains and launches are leaving the station and the terminal for their respective destinations maintaining scheduled times by and large, but bus passengers have to wait at counters for several hours.

 

Around six million city dwellers are expected to leave the capital city to celebrate the Eid at their respective native homes, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman told UNB.

 

About one million people, mostly government and semi-government officials and employees and their family members have already left Dhaka on Thursday night, he said and adding the remaining Eid holidaymakers will leave the city by Monday.

 

Superintendent of highway police (Gazipur) Shafiqul Islam said though there were a huge flow of outgoing vehicles at Chandra crossing from Gabtoli and Gazipur on Thursday night, it has eased to some extent on Friday. Usually, 9,000-13,000 vehicles pass the high way in normal time, but up to 24,000 vehicles were passing through the crossing now.

 

He said they have deployed adequate number of police personnel on the high way to make easy traffic and ease the sufferings of the home goers.

 

At Gabtoli Bus Terminal, many passengers were seen waiting for hours at there for their trips home as most buses were running behind their schedules as the bus operators claimed their most vehicles returning from outside Dhaka got stuck on highways putting their schedules in disarray.

 

Rozy Siddique, a business promotion manager of a private trading company at the city's Motijheel, said she reached the bus terminal around 6:00 am, two hours before her bus schedule time, but she had to wait until 2:00 pm to catch her designated bus.

 

Abdul Latif, a businessman, who was waiting for a Jessore bound bus, said the bus owners changed his bus schedule to 4:00pm from 9am.

 

Gabtoli bus terminals sources said the bus operators are not being able to maintain the schedule as their vehicles from outside the city cannot return timely due to the tailbacks on the highways.

 

Sources at Saidabad bus terminals said bus operators are also being failed to maintain their schedule due to severe traffic jam on Dhaka–Chittagong highway.

 

Though Dhaka-Chittagong highway has already turned into a 4-lane one, a large number of vehicles could not cross Meghna and Gumti bridges smoothly due to heavy traffic pressure.

 

The home-bound passengers are going through immense sufferings immensely as there long tailbacks have been created on the highway since morning.

 

Also, there have been long gridlocks on both sides of the Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Kawrakandi ferry ghats, causing untold sufferings to the holidaymakers.

 

Many people were seen crossing the Padma River in speedboats and launches to avoid the tailbacks, risking their lives.