Home-goers on their way to the outlying areas continued suffering in tailbacks on different highways as the six-day long holidays, including the four-day official Puja and Eid vacation, began on Monday with hundreds of thousands of people already leaving Dhaka to celebrate the festivals.
Many passengers alleged that extra fares charged by bus operators added to their sufferings.
The four-day Puja and Eid vacation added to a two-day weekend next Friday and Saturday will make it a six-day holiday. Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on Wednesday while the five–day Durga Puja ended on Monday.
Travellers particularly on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Tangail routes waited in tailbacks for hours on Monday due to rush of traffic on highways.
Our Gazipur correspondent reported that since early hours of the day traffic congestions on the road stretches between Abdullahpur-Tongi, Board Bazar-Gazipur intersection and Konabari-Chandra caused immense sufferings to travellers.
Apparel workers’ agitation on Nabinagar-Chandra road aggravated the situation on the Dhaka-Tangail highway from Ashulia to Mirzapur.
Meanwhile, travellers complained that different transport operators were charging them extra at Gabtoli, Mahakhali and Saidabad terminals.
At Gabtoli terminal, most of the bus operators were charging extra from passengers in keeping with the fare chart the Bangladesh Bus and Truck Owners’ Association had prepared ignoring the chart of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.
The association leaders said that the BRTA fares had been decided for 52-seat buses, they had turned them into 40-seat buses to give passengers a ‘little comfort’, for which they were charging the extra money.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Association leader and Mahakhali Bus Terminal Road Transport Owners’ Association general secretary Mohammad Abdul Malek told New Age that the fare they had fixed for 40-seat buses had been approved by the BRTA.
Saidabad Inter-District and City Bus Terminal Owners’ Association general secretary Mohammad Khairul Alam Molla also said that their fare chart for 40-seat buses had been approved by the authority.
Bus operators at these two terminals were charging extra ranging from Tk 50 to Tk 300 according to their own charts.
BRTA assistant director Mohammad Enayet Hossain Montu told New Age that there was no fare chart for the so-called 40-seat chair coaches. It set fares only for 52-seat buses and 30-seat minibuses.
Trains left Kamalapur railway station with many travellers on footboards and rooftops.
‘It is good that this time there is still no problem with the train schedules although a large number of people are using railway service,’ said Hazi Alam, a Dinajpur-bound passenger.
Station master Dipendra Chandra said that during this Eid a large number of passengers were travelling to northern districts by train.
According to the railway, nine pair special inter-city trains will operate during the Eid holidays on Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong-1, Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong-2, Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong-1, Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong-2, Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka, Parbatipur-Dhaka-Parbatipur, Dhaka-Parbatipur-Dhaka, Dhaka-Khulna-Dhaka and Khulna-Dhaka-Khulna routes with the regular trains.
Four-pair trains will operate on the Eid day on Bhairab-Kishoreganj, Kishoreganj-Bhairab, Mymensingh-Kishoreganj and Kishoreganj-Mymensingh routes.
Return tickets for the special trains would be sold on October 9 for journey on October 18, on October 10 for October 19, on October 11 for October 20, on October 12 for October 21 and October 13 for October 22 from Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat stations.
-With New Age input
