People in their thousands continued to leave the capital yesterday for Eid-ul-Azha holidays and those heading to the northern, north-western and southern districts suffered immensely on highways and near ferry terminals due to congestion.

Once again, physical distancing was largely ignored during the mad rush. Many home-goers did not even wear masks. It fuelled concerns over a rise in the Covid-19 transmission at a time when both virus deaths and infections are surging across the country.

The situation was similar on Friday.

Meanwhile, transport service providers and officials involved in the sector said the number of home-goers is likely to increase today and so is their suffering. They also said the home rush is expected to reach its peak on Tuesday with the beginning of the government holidays for the festival.

According to different estimations, more than one crore people on average left Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur ahead of Eid before the pandemic. Many office-goers in these districts would send their family members home days before the festival and they would join them later.

But this time, the home-goers have to leave the districts within a short period of time since a 14-day countrywide coronavirus lockdown ended only on Wednesday. Their sufferings aggravated after the government asked transport operators to keep half the seats empty to ensure physical distancing. Many operators are charging passengers extra. At the same time, they are carrying more passengers than they are supposed to.

The government relaxed the strict lockdown for eight days from Thursday for the Eid, which will be celebrated on Wednesday.

It made the move although many experts had warned that lifting the restrictions may lead to a spike in infections and deaths.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a platform working to protect passengers' rights, yesterday urged the government to take action against unscrupulous bus operators, who were overcharging passengers and not maintaining the health safety rules.

vehicles are caught in a long tailback at the east end of Bangabandhu Bridge in Tangail. Photo: Star/Collected

Most public transport operators are not following the government instruction, it said after observing the ongoing Eid rush on Thursday and Friday.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader too said many bus operators were overcharging passengers and not following the health safety rules.

During his regular online briefing yesterday, Quader warned transport owners with legal action if they failed to follow the guidelines.

TAILBACK ON ROADS, CROWD AT FERRY TERMINALS

A huge rush of buses and cars caused a severe congestion on the Dhaka-Tangail-Rangpur highway.

Vehicles moved slowly throughout the day on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.

On the Dhaka-Tangail-Rangpur highway, vehicles got stuck in a 20km tailback from Rabna Bypass area to the eastern end of Bangabandhu Bridge and in a 22km tailback from the western end of the bridge to Hatkumrul intersection area in Sirajganj yesterday.

In face of a huge pressure of vehicles, including cattle-laden trucks, the bridge authorities stopped toll collection twice early yesterday and thrice after 4:20pm, which worsened the congestion.

The pressure eased after evening.

Yasir Arafat, in-charge of the Elenga Highway Police Outpost, told our Tangail correspondent that the number of vehicles on the bridge throughout yesterday was more than double the usual.

A risky and narrow bridge in Nalka area of Sirajganj also led to the congestion as vehicles had to cross it very slowly and cautiously.

Ahmed Saju, a Bogura-bound passenger from Dhaka, said the bus he was in crossed a distance of six kilometers from the western end of the bridge in three hours.

Saiful Islam, a cattle trader from Pabna, said his cattle-laden truck got stuck in tailback at the western end of the bridge for more than two hours. He was afraid that the animals may get sick.

Meanwhile, traffic slowed down on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway yesterday due to too many vehicles, reported our Gazipur Correspondent.

The situation worsened after a salt-laden truck lost control and hit a roadside battery-run auto-rickshaw in MCA Bazar area of Gazipur around 8:00am, leaving two people dead and halting traffic movement for one hour.

The Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur’s Chandra area is gridlocked. Photo: Star/Collected

Due to the congestion, many buses could not return to their terminals in the capital, leaving passengers to wait for hours to board buses.

Mosharref Hossain, general manager of Hanif Paribahan, said gridlocks on the Dhaka-Tangail highway heavily disrupted their schedule. The situation was so bad that they had to cancel many tickets and refund passengers, he said.

"None of our buses left Dhaka after 9:00am for northern districts as many buses could not reach the terminals in the capital," Mosharref told The Daily Star around 4:00pm yesterday.

He blamed the rise in the number of vehicles, including cars and cattle-laden trucks, and some "choking" points on the highways for the situation.

He also said some bus operators brought local buses for long-haul services. Those buses are not fit for such a service and their operation was aggravating the situation on highway, he said.

Although some major bus operators maintained the health safety guidelines and carried passengers at half capacity, others simply did not bother to follow the government instruction, The Daily Star found visiting the Gabtoli bus terminal yesterday.

There were crowds of people in front of the counters. Social distancing went for a toss. Many did not even put on their masks the proper way.

Meanwhile, Shimulia-Banglabazar and Paturia-Dauladia ferry and launch terminals faced a huge pressure of passengers and vehicles yesterday.

Visiting Paturia Ferry Terminal around 1:00pm, our Manikganj correspondent saw around 100 buses and 200 trucks waiting to cross the river.

Many launch operators were found carrying passengers more than what the authorities said they could.

A mobile court fined four launches for not having necessary papers.

A similar situation was seen at the Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry and launch terminal in the morning, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.

LAUNCH AND TRAIN

Zainal Abedin, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said the number of home-goers leaving the capital by launches dropped yesterday compared to Friday.

He said the number was expected to rise from today and the home rush was likely to reach its peak on Monday, when garment factories were to close for the holidays.

Replying to a question on the violation of health safety rules, he said many passengers were reluctant to wear masks and follow the health rules. "We are trying our best so that both launch operators and passengers follow the safety guidelines."

Many home-goers left the capital by trains as the Bangladesh Railway is operating 34 trains from Dhaka to different destinations.

As per its previous announcement, BR will operate 38 inter-city and 19 commuters and local trains keeping 50 percent seats empty and maintaining physical distancing across the country.

Meanwhile, BR yesterday launched its "Cattle Special" train service yesterday to bring sacrificial animals to the city from different parts of the country.

A train with 80 cattle started at 4:30pm from Chapainawabganj. Taking more cattle from different other stations, the train was expected to reach Dhaka at 3:30am today.