Eid journey: Good, so far

Thousands of people continued to leave Dhaka yesterday to celebrate Eid with their loved ones and their trips were relatively hassle-free.

All trains, except the Chattogram-bound Sonar Bangla Express, left Dhaka on time and no major traffic congestion was reported in the city.

However, there was some traffic at Nabinagar, Joydebpur Chowrastha, Chandra and Baipail, all key intersections on the way to the north and northwestern regions.

The intersections are surrounded by a large number of garment factories that closed for the Eid holidays in the evening.

Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of Muslims, will be celebrated across the country tomorrow if the crescent moon of the month of Shawwal is sighted today.

People with some 29 lakh mobile phone connections left Dhaka yesterday, Telecom Minister Mustafa Jabbar said on his Facebook page at 5:30pm.

On Tuesday, people with 12.28 lakh SIMs left Dhaka while people with 16 lakh SIMs left Dhaka on Wednesday, he also mentioned.

People started leaving Dhaka in the morning and formed crowds at bus terminals and outside the Kamalapur Railway Station. The number of passengers increased sharply in the evening.

During a visit to the Gabtoli Bus Terminal around 2:30pm, this correspondent found a relatively small crowd. Many passengers alleged that they were overcharged.

Hemayet Uddin, deputy director (enforcement) of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) who was at the terminal's control room, said although they received some complaints of overcharging, the allegations could not be proven.

Mosharref Hossain, general manager of Hanif Paribahan, said the pressure of passengers was huge in the evening. Congestion was reported from several points on the way to northern districts, he said.

The control room set up by the road transport and bridges ministry at the BRTA, reported tailbacks at Nabinagar, Joydebpur Chowrastha, Chandra and Baipail at 7:00pm.

A large number of garment workers set out for their holidays after their factories closed in the evening. Buses were picking them up blocking roads, which caused congestions, an official of the control room said.

"We have already spoken to law enforcers there and we hope they will free up the road soon," he said.

A total of 7,105 motorcycles crossed the Padma Bridge during the first 12 hours after the vehicles were allowed on the bridge, Bridges Division Secretary Monjur Hossain told The Daily Star.

"The overall experience on the first day is quite good as most of the bikes follow the directives and stayed in their lane," he said at 8:10pm.

Monjur said 16,218 vehicles crossed the bridge from the Mawa end between 12:00am and 6:00pm, paying Tk 1.65 crore in toll.

Meanwhile, two road crashes in Munshiganj and Dinajpur killed eight people.

Khairul Kabir, division transport officer (Dhaka division) of Bangladesh Railway, said, the Chattogram-bound Sonar Bangla Express left Dhaka after a delay of more than three and a half hours due to a technical problem.

The non-stop train finally left Kamalapur Railway Station at 10:25am.

A total of 56 trains, including 40 intercity trains, were supposed to leave Dhaka yesterday, Khairul said.

He said many in the crowd that gathered outside the Kamalapur station to buy standing tickets, had to leave empty-handed as they had a small number of tickets to sell.

Since evening excess passengers were seen in trains and even on roofs of carriages at Kamalapur and Airport stations.

There was relatively a larger crowd at the Sadarghat Launch Terminal yesterday compared to the day before.