People start returning to city as Eid holiday over

The Eid vacation is over. People have started to get back to the capital. Many of them have to travel on the rooftops of trains, although the act is a punishable offence. The photos were taken at Kamalapur Rail Station yesterday.Photo: STAR

Hanging on to their lives on the roofs of a train or crammed inside its generator room, holidaymakers are flocking back to the capital after spending Eid with loved ones.
Bus, launch and train terminals were abuzz with the arrivals yesterday as people beat the infernal travel conditions to get back to their lives.
The public holiday on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr was followed by the weekend, giving people a long break from work.
“My office reopens Sunday so I had to return today,” said sales manager Kamrul Hasan who just got to Gabtoli bus terminal from Rangpur yesterday.
Around 55,000 to 60,000 people returned to the city via Mohakhali bus terminal yesterday, said Abul Kalam, president of bus owners' association there.
A large number of people also arrived on waterways at city's Sadarghat launch terminal. Terminal authorities however projected that passengers' rush would double from today.
Meanwhile, the main traffic at Dhaka's Kamalapur Railway Station was inbound people returning to the city. Almost all the 21 trains that arrived in Dhaka yesterday carried hundreds of extra passengers on their roofs. Even the generator room, which is off-limits to passengers, were crammed with passengers desperate to return on time.
The Silkcity Express from Rajshahi pulled in at Kamalapur Railway Station at 3:10pm yesterday with hundreds travelling on the roof, many of them women and children. The passengers shimmied their way down from the roofs, as there are no formal ladders or steps to get down from the roof.
A railway source said 'an estimated 27,000 people arrived at Dhaka through trains' yesterday. They predicted the next three days would be even busier.