Journey home for Eid may be tough this time too
Like previous years, Eid holidaymakers may have to endure tailbacks while heading home this year as well thanks to poor condition of highways at some key points, say leaders of a platform working to ensure passengers' welfare.
Traffic slows to a crawl at those points and some of the vehicles even break down hitting large potholes, leading to gridlocks, they said.
The leaders also called upon the government to take steps so that vehicles can go easily through the traffic congestion-prone areas during the Eid holidays.
Every year, Eid holidaymakers brave traffic gridlocks on highways to celebrate the festival with their near and dear ones back at home. However, during the past couple of years, they went through intolerable sufferings as vehicles remained stranded in huge tailbacks for hours at several places of Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Tangail, Gazipur-Tangail and Dhaka-Sylhet highways.
Seeking to find a way out, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers' welfare association, organised a roundtable titled “Sufferings During Eid Travel: Civic Thought” at the capital's Mukti Bhaban yesterday.
The Eid rush is expected to begin on the night of June 22.
Citing government estimates, the association leaders said about 37 percent areas of the country's roads and highways were dilapidated and about 80 lakh people would leave Dhaka for their homes during the Eid.
This year, many of them might have to remain stuck in jam for hours due to the ongoing development work on Joydevpur Chandra-Tangail-Elenga road that connects 16 districts, they added.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the association, said passengers on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway could be the worst sufferers since the construction of a four-lane flyover was underway at Rupganj of Narayanganj.
“Due to the construction work, the highway stretch between Bhulta and Gawsia market becomes narrow and it takes three to four hours to cross that distance alone,” he said, adding, the holidaymakers suffered a lot last year at that place.
Illegal parking and illegal markets set up at some places also lead to slow movement of traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, he said.
Waterways are not safe for travel amid rough weather, Mozammel said, adding that many accidents happened in the past as launch operators carried passengers three or even four times higher than the vessel's capacity.
Quoting an estimate of railway, he said the life of about 68.35 percent of the engines and 46.14 percent of the coaches of railways have expired and due to the crisis, 80 percent of passengers have to travel risking their lives.
He urged the government to ensure a strict monitoring system to prevent slow moving and overloaded vehicles on highways and check excessive fares and illegal sale of tickets during the Eid.
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