People have started returning to the capital Dhaka after celebrating Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones in their respective village homes.
And, the city is expected to get back its real look within tomorrow (Sunday).
Apart from capital Dhaka, the country’s other metropolitan cities Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Sylhet and Barishal as well as district towns have also started getting back people.
The city’s bus and launch terminals and Kamalapur railway station on Friday witnessed huge crowd of people who were coming from the country’s different destinations by buses and coaches, launches and trains.
According to concerned officials, the number of city bound people is also increasing gradually.
Moreover, the pressure of returnees will continue to increase today (Saturday).
The returnee crowds would remain until Saturday (August 17). It is expected that the capital will get back to its usual form within two days.
On Friday (August 16) at the Gabtali, Mohakhali-Saidabad bus terminals and the airport-Kamalapur railway station was buzzing with returnee crowds. Passengers occupied all the seats of each bus, train and launch. However, there was no misery in the Dhaka-bound buses as it was during the time to leave Dhaka.
Halima Yasmin, a non-governmental organization employee who returned to the capital from Gopalganj, said that previous Eid she did not get any holiday. So going home for her this Eid was a different kind of joy. Most of the offices are opening from Saturday. That is why she came back on Friday.
Asked how her journey experience was, she said it was not like earlier. The ferry had to wait for 4 hours while leaving. But today within an hour of arriving, I got the ferry. In addition, there was no traffic jam on the way.
On the other hand, there will also be pressure on commuters heading to the capital on Saturday, as government employees will start office on Sunday (August 18).
Aminul Haque, manager of the Kamalapur Railway Station, said railway will face passenger rush on both Friday and Saturday. However, many returned on Friday from fear of suffering on the way.
From morning onwards, the buses of Barishal, Bhola, Jhalakathi, Pirojpur, Barguna, Charfassion, Bhandaria, Lalmohan and many other routes of the country started crossing ferry terminals.
The launches and the passengers continued to mount in the terminal. In the meantime, due to congestion, many launches were waiting at the terminal
Government health officer Amir Obaidullah said that there would be a lot of pressure on Saturday. Again, my colleagues are working in a private institution, their office starts Saturday. Therefore, I have returned on Friday predicting huge traffic jams.