This year, however, the rush is less visible than previous years since people have five days to leave the capital. This year, there is only one working day between the Eid holidays and the weekend prompting many office-goers to take leave on Sunday and depart from the capital early.

A large number of passengers especially women and children have already left on Thursday and yesterday to avoid the late rush, sources in bus, train stations and launch terminals said.

However, the main rush is expected to start tomorrow evening after the last working day ends ahead of the holiday. Officials at the ticket counters of Kamalapur Railway Station, Sadarghat Launch Terminal and Gabtoli, Mohakhali, Saidabad and Jatrabari bus terminals said all tickets have already been sold in advance.

There are allegations that brokers, in connivance with ticket sellers, are selling tickets at double, in some cases triple, the price of the normal price.

About two and a half million people have already left for their homes in the last few days and around three million more are expected to leave in the next few days. Eid will be celebrated on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the sighting of the Shawal moon.

SADARGHAT LAUNCH TERMINAL
A large number of tickets for the launch cabins have been booked by ruling party ministers, legislators, leaders and activists while the rest of the comparatively good tickets have already been grabbed by the scalpers, said ticket counter officials in the terminal.

About 250-280 launches, including around 100 vessels unfit to ply, leave Sadarghat Launch Terminal daily carrying passengers way beyond their capacity. This is happening despite the government's warnings of stern actions against unfit launches and overloading.

According to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), around 110 to 130 large and small launches depart from Sadarghat and around 50 special launches and vessels have been added to handle the Eid rush.

Launches already declared unfit and abandoned have been pressed into "special service" ignoring the mobile courts' verdict.

This correspondent yesterday found a group of scalpers selling cabin tickets to the passengers at hiked up prices but there were no cabin tickets available at the ticket counters.

Passengers alleged that many brokers illegally occupy space in the launches before the vessels berth at the terminal and charge Tk 50 to Tk 80 from each passenger to let them sit there.

"I boarded the launch as soon as it reached the terminal but I could not get any space to place my bed sheet. I managed to get two spots after paying a broker Tk 120," said Arif Ahmed, passenger of a launch heading for Bhola.

BUS STATIONS
Employees of different coach services said the rush is not so heavy this year in comparison to previous years. The load is light because around 500 new buses have been added to different routes and people have five days to leave the capital, they said.

"Around 200 new buses have started to operate from Saidabad Bus Terminal alone in the last one year. We kept another 200 city-service buses on reserve to be put on inter-district routs during the final rush," ANNM Mujibullah Naser, general secretary of Saidabad Bus Owners' Association, told The Daily Star.

He also said the buses will make double trips to ease the pressure of passengers heading home on Sunday and Monday.

Employees at ticket counters of Gabtoli, Saidabad, Mohakhali, Jatrabari, Kalabagan, Motijheel and Shyamoli bus terminals said all tickets especially of Sunday and Monday have been bought in advance. They said most of the tickets were bought from October 8 to 12.

KAMALAPUR RAILWAY STATION
Railway officials said apart from the standing tickets, they do not have any tickets for leaving Dhaka ahead of the Eid holiday. They said 12737 passengers departed from the capital in last 24 hours using 32 trains including 19 intercity trains. Around 5,000 passengers left Dhaka by four private trains, they added.

It has been alleged that brokers bought a good number tickets in advance but they could not sell them easily due to a vigilant mobile court.

"Two to 12 compartments will be added to each train leaving Dhaka in the last two days before Eid," said Nitendra Saha, stationmaster of Kamalapur Railway Station.