C T Online Desk: The rush of holidaymakers on roads, railways, and waterways began on Monday, the final working day ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
As the day progressed, the number of people, vehicles, and vessels increased on the roads, train stations, and launch terminals in different directions from the capital.
Along with this, cattle-laden vehicles travelling towards Dhaka have also increased.
Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated this year on June 29, while a four-day vacation starts today.
A huge number of vehicles, however, were seen on some major national highways, especially on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways, on Monday.
The vehicles were seen moving very slowly on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, the gateway to the northern districts from the capital.
Md Atiqur Rahman, the officer-in-charge of the Nowjore highway police station in Gazipur, told New Age that the pace of vehicles started slowing around 3:00pm and continued until the evening.
As the offices and many apparel factories went on vacation on the day, hundreds of people started to leave the capital, causing a slow pace of vehicles on the highway, he said.
He said that they were prepared for more rush today, the first day of four-day long Eid vacation.
In the capital, many people have been seen waiting at the inter-district bus terminals at Gabtoli, Mohakhali, and Saidabad with luggage to get on buses since the morning.
Vehicles were slow at different points in Dhaka, especially in terminal areas, and Abdullahpur near Tongi.
A huge crowd has been seen at the Kamalapur railway station in the capital since the morning as passengers flocked to catch special train services to celebrate Eid with their near and dear ones.
Some trains ran behind schedule.
Bangladesh Railway West Zone general manager Asim Kumar Talukder told New Age that train passengers increased on Monday.
‘We are forcing people to get down from the train roofs at Bangabandhu Bridge East Station, he said.
He said that the Kurigram Express on the Dhaka-Kurigram route ran three hours and 20 minutes late due to the crossing of Bangabandhu Bridge with an increased number of passengers.
Passengers were taking time to get on and off the trains at all stations, Asim said, adding that some other trains were also running from half an hour to one hour late.
Till 7:30pm, around 50 launches left Dhaka from the Sadarghat launch terminal, said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority joint director Alamgir Kabir.
‘The pressure is normal for launches, but we expect it to increase tomorrow [Sunday],’ he added.
New Age correspondent in Tangail reported that vehicles moved slowly on a 13-km stretch on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway from Elenga to the bridge’s east side since Monday morning due to an increased number of vehicles from Dhaka to the northern routes and the temporary suspension of toll collection in a booth.
Passengers and transport workers said that since Sunday night, the number of vehicles from Dhaka increased on the highway, and at 4:30am, following a road crash, toll collection was stopped on the northern route-bound lane, which created traffic congestion.
Around 6:30am due to another road crash, vehicles stopped moving on the highway again.
With many vehicles using the feeder roads beside the highway, traffic congestion was also created at some places as vehicles got stuck at the entry and exit points of the feeder roads.
Elenga highway police outpost in-charge Zahid Hasan said the situation started to improve at 8:00am.
Bangabandhu Bridge authorities said that 29,085 vehicles crossed the bridge in 24 hours, from Sunday 6:00am to Monday 6:00am.
