People have started leaving the capital Dhaka and other metropolitan cities in large numbers to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones.
Many government service holders left the capital on Tuesday afternoon after completing their office work on the last working day before the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims, will be celebrated in Bangladesh either on April 22 or April 23, subject to the sighting of the Moon.
The holy Lailatul Qadr or Shab-e-Qadr, the most blessed night for the Muslims, will be observed today, which is a public holiday, while the government has declared tomorrow (Thursday) as holiday by an executive order to ease the travel of holidaymakers.
Therefore, the government offices go into days-long vacation from today on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
On the other hand, a large number of people have already sent their families earlier to avert chaos on roads and highways while students have also left the capital and other metropolitan cities.
The city’s Sadarghat lunch terminal, Sayedabad, Gabtoli and Mahakhali bus terminals and Kamalapur and Airport railway stations yesterday saw a huge crowd of home-goers as people are leaving the capital to enjoy the festival at their village homes.
A large number of government and private service holders left the capital Dhaka, other metropolitan cities and district towns on Monday afternoon after completing their office work on their last working day before the Eid.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) on Monday started facilitating special trains for the home-goers.
On Tuesday, trains faced moderate pressure of passengers, with several north-bound trains running behind schedule.
The Eid journey is likely to get momentum from today.
People of 21 districts in the country’s southwest region can travel to their destinations quickly and safely as vehicles use the recently completed Padma Bridge to cross the mighty river.
Now they can go straight to their respective home districts from capital Dhaka by road, crossing the river in just six minutes over the bridge, instead of the awful nightmares due to long tailbacks earlier experienced at ferry terminals.
Besides, Gabtoli bus terminal saw a good number of home-bound people of southwest districts, who would go home via Paturia launch terminal, crossing the river by ferry or launch and then getting on buses to reach their destinations from Daulatdia.
But the homebound people had to face another day of intolerable sufferings as they got stuck on roads and even different flyovers for hours due to heavy traffic gridlock across the capital city on Tuesday.
All the city roads heading towards the most highways connected with Dhaka, including Dhaka-Chattogram, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Mymensingh, Dhaka-Tangail, Joydebpur-Chandra-Tangail-Elenga, Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Rangpur and Dhaka- Khulna including the Padma Bridge were overcrowded with buses, cars, trucks, covered vans and rickshaws.
Besides, roads heading towards Sayedabad, Gabtali and Mahakhali bus terminals, Sadarghat launch terminal and Kamalapur and Airport railway stations also saw huge crowds of Eid holidaymakers since Tuesday.
As a result, traffic congestions in the city turned acute, causing intolerable sufferings to the homebound people as well as commuters.
The buses and other vehicles took hours to get to the highways and expressways.
Many passengers said their journeys are torturous this time also as many parts of national highways are not in good shape.
Heavy pressure of vehicles is likely to aggravate the situation.
To cope with the increased number of passengers and vehicles, the concerned ministries are taking collective measures to make hassle-free Eid journey of the holidaymakers immediately.
Apart from these, strong enforcement of law and monitoring by the authorities concerned are necessary to check the violation of traffic rules, overtaking, traffic chaos, plying of unfit vehicles, remove obstacles to smooth traffic and ensure better management at different intersections and entry and exit points of the capital.
All concerned will continue making their efforts in operating vehicles on roads and highways and launches and vessels on waterways, maintaining discipline and remain cautious at highest level to avert any kind of accidents, said officials.