C T Online Desk: Homebound people continued to suffer immensely on all modes of transports on Friday due to the collapse of schedules, traffic congestion and anarchy over fares on their journey to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha at ancestral homes or elsewhere amid mismanagement of the authorities.
Severe traffic gridlocks on all highways from the capital delayed schedules of buses while travellers, especially women, children and the elderly, were victims of painful waiting.
By taking of the situation, transport owners charged exorbitant fares from the passengers on roads.
Schedules of trains, too, almost collapsed on the day while people travelled on train roofs defying efforts of railway authorities.
On the day, people illegally travelled by goods-laden road transports, risking their lives, while the ban on the movement of motorcycles on highways was largely ignored.
A separate ferry was deployed to carry motorcycles only on the Shimulia-Majhirkandi route due to the presence of huge numbers of motorcycles.
Huge crowds were also seen at the major ferry ter.minals, where hundreds of people came on foot.
People thronged the Sadraghat launch terminal also to leave Dhaka on the day.
A crisis of public transports also badly affected people of the capital and commuters had to pay two-to-three times higher fares to go to their destinations.
Covid rules in transports and at terminals and stations were grossly violated as many were seen without wearing masks.
Eid-Ul-Azha will be celebrated on Sunday while a three-day Eid vacation starts today.
Cattle traders from rural areas bring cattle on a vessel to sell at Dhaka’s makeshift markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. The photo was taken from Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge-1, popularly known as Postogola Bridge, on the Buriganga River on Friday. — New Age photo
Since early morning on Friday, huge traffic congestions were witnessed on different highways, including the Dhaka–Tangail–Bangabandhu Bridge, Dhaka–Mawa–Bhanga, Dhaka–Aricha, Dhaka–Mymensingh and Dhaka–Chattogram highways.
Crowds of people were found waiting at the Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Saidabad inter-district bus terminals for buses throughout the day as buses on almost all the routes ran late by up to 10–12 hours.
‘I started from the Gabtoli terminal in Dhaka at 11:00pm on Thursday and reached Rajshahi at about 4:00pm on Friday,’ said Maksudur Rahman, a traveller.
He said that they had been scheduled to reach Rajshahi at 6:00am on Friday but due to huge congestions on the Bangabandhu Bridge and at Sirajganj their journey suffered the delay.
As a result, people who were scheduled to leave Dhaka in the morning had to wait for hours more for the return of their buses from the journey they had made.
Meanwhile, for the Gabtoli–Paturia distance, people had to pay Tk 400 to Tk 500 to different bus companies, including Moumita, Rabrab and Welcome, in place of the government-fixed Tk 164 fare.
People also had to pay double or more on the country’s northern routes as Tk 1,700 was asked for the Dhaka–Rangpur trip instead of the regular Tk 500–Tk 700 fare.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association senior leader Abul Kalam, also the president of the Mohakhali Bus Terminal Owners Association, said that huge traffic gridlocks were seen on all highways around the capital since Friday early hours.
‘It takes usually two and a half hours to travel the Dhaka–Mymensingh distance, which is taking about 12 hours today,’ he said.
At the Gabtoli and Aminbazar points, trucks and pickups were seen bargaining with people to carry them illegally as these transports plied highways without any restrictions from the police.
‘One person was killed in a collision between a bus and a pickup on the bridge, for which the bridge authorities stopped collecting tolls for about two hours,’ Bangabandhu Bridge East police station officer-in-charge Shafiqul Islam said, adding, ‘There is also the pressure of extra vehicles.’
Passengers alleged that they had to wait two–three hours for a distance of 30 minutes on the highway.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority collected the highest Tk 3,40,07,700 in toll from 43,595 vehicles that crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge in the 24 hours ending at 11:59pm on Thursday, said BBA executive engineer Ahsan Masud.
The number of vehicles crossing the bridge was also high on Friday, he mentioned.
According to BBA executive engineer in charge of the Padma Bridge Mahbubur Rahman, 26,340 vehicles crossed the bridge between 12:00am and 2:00pm on Friday while total 22,703 vehicles had crossed the bridge on Thursday, from which Tk 3,16,51,650 was collected as toll.
A huge pressure of vehicles was seen on the bridge throughout the day on Friday while long queues were witnessed, especially at the Mawa end.
New Age correspondent in Gazipur reported that traffic gridlocks were seen in Tongi and Gazipur areas since Friday morning while Gazipur Metropolitan Police traffic department assistant commissioner Md Ahsanul Haque blamed buses collecting passengers for the gridlock.
From Tongi to the Joydebpur intersection, a 12-kilometre-long stretch, and from the Chandana intersection to Chandra in Kaliakoir, traffic congestions were seen while bus drivers said that they had to wait about two hours to cross just one kilometre distance.
Bus passengers, however, alleged that they were charged extra fares.
Scores of motorbikes were seen plying highways and inter-district roads unchecked on Friday although the government slapped restrictions on the motorbike movement during Eid and made police movement pass mandatory for their movement.
Since morning, people started crowding the Kamalapur rail station in Dhaka and many of them defied railway efforts to get on train roofs.
In terrifying videos posted on social media platforms it was seen that people not only covered the train roofs but also locomotives.
Some were injured falling off train roofs or while trying to get on roofs.
Manik Mia, who was standing by grabbing a train door handle, said that he had travelled in this position from the airport station to Tongi carrying two bags.
‘I did have no other way to go to Jamalpur,’ he added.
‘We are trying hard but many got on train roofs violating our instruction not to do so. They are travelling on roofs due to huge pressure,’ said the Kamalapur station master Afsar Uddin.
Bangladesh Railway West Zone general manager Asim Kumar Talukder said that some coaches of Panchagarh Express and Kurigram Express bent down due to weight of extra people on roofs.
‘There were more people on train roofs than inside,’ he said, adding that some locomasters could not see the front view due to people standing on the locomotive’s front, but they were dispersed.
In such a situation on the day, passengers took more time to get into train coaches, delaying the schedules of trains, he added.
Drutajan Express on the Panchagarh–Dhaka route ran more than eight hours behind the schedule while Nilsagar Express on the Dhaka–Chilahati route ran over seven hours, Ekota Express on the Dhaka–Panchagarh route ran over four hours, Rangpur Express on the Dhaka–Rangpur route and Joyantika Express on the Dhaka–Sylhet route ran two and a half hours and Upakul Express on the Dhaka–Noakhali route ran about two hours behind their schedules.
Since morning, streams of people started to coming to the Sadarghat launch terminal on their way to southern destinations.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority joint director Alamgir Kabir said that 49 launches left Dhaka till noon on Friday.
New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that the number of passengers and vehicles increased at the Aricha and Paturia ferry terminals in Manikganj on the day and they crossed the River Padma smoothly without waiting long.
People also crossed the river by speedboats and launches.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation Aricha office deputy general manager Shah Mohammad Khaled Newaz said that vehicles and passengers were being transported by 20 out of the 21 ferries slated on the Paturia–Daulatdia route and by four on the Aricha–Kazirhat route while the ferry operations were smooth throughout the day.
In the capital since morning, the number of public transports was fewer while they charged extra fares from the passengers.
A commuter named Mohidul Islam said that passengers had to pay Tk 100 on Victor paribahan and Akash paribahan buses for any distance on the Bashundhara/Rampura–Gulistan route.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner for traffic Munibur Rahman said that they had received complaints about excessive bus fares on Thursday but not on Friday.
