Eid journey largely trouble-free

To celebrate Eid with their loved ones, thousands left Dhaka yesterday on trains, buses, and launches, and their journeys were mostly free of hassles.

Almost all trains left Dhaka on time and no major traffic congestion was reported from any key highways as of 7:30pm.

However, on the first day of Eid holidays, passengers heading for the south from the Sayedabad Bus Terminal had to pay extra and wait a long time to get on buses.

People started to leave Dhaka in the morning and formed huge crowds at bus terminals and the Kamalapur Railway Station. The crowd shrunk around noon but started to swell in the evening.

According to the control room set up by the road transport and bridges ministry at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), there were no major issues for travellers.

These correspondents visited Gabtoli and Sayedabad bus terminals between 11:00am and 2:00pm and found not so big crowds.

At Sayedabad, some alleged that they were being overcharged by up to Tk 200. Although there was a police control room and BRTA booths, the authorities did not intervene, they alleged.

Suman Hossain had to pay Tk 750 for a non-AC bus ticket for Barishal even though the ticket mentioned Tk 600 as the fare. The actual price of the ticket is Tk 534 as per the BRTA fare chart.

When Suman asked why he was being overcharged, the ticket seller at the Shyamoli Paribahan counter said he was charging as per the owner's directives.

Asked, Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, Shyamoli Paribahan owner and the chairman of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, yesterday said almost empty buses return to Dhaka during the Eid and that was why bus operators charge people extra to cover the losses.

Jalal Uddin had to wait almost two hours at Sayedabad to get a ticket for Gopalganj. He paid Tk 700 when the actual fare is Tk 488.

Abu Bakkar Helal, a traffic inspector at the terminal, said they took punitive action against four buses for overcharging.

The crowd at Gabtoli was small when one of these correspondents visited between 1:00pm and 2:00pm.

Gabtoli is seeing fewer passengers this year as many buses serving the south started operating from Sayedabad instead after the Padma Bridge opened.

Thousands left Dhaka on trains that were mostly on time, said Shahalam Kiran Shishir, division commercial officer (Dhaka division) of Bangladesh Railway.

However, many passengers, who gathered at Kamalapur for sanding tickets, failed to get any. The number of standing tickets BR was selling was 25 percent of the Shovan Chair seats each train had.

Shishir said BR operated 56 trains, including 40 intercity trains and three special trains, yesterday.

A large number of passengers travelled from Sadarghat Launch Terminal yesterday, said Alamgir Kabir, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.

He said the number of launch passengers decreased as many opted to travel by road since it is quicker via Padma Bridge. He said as of 8:00pm, 70 launches left the terminal.

Around 1.2 crore people will leave Dhaka ahead of this Eid, according to an estimate by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.