People have started coming back to the capital in small numbers after celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr in their home towns and villages. Public and private bus operators said that most of the people would return to Dhaka on Friday and Saturday.
The Bangladesh Railway’s divisional railway manager (Dhaka), Sardar Shahzad Ali, told New Age on Wednesday that the rush of the returning people would begin from Friday evening and continue through Saturday.
Shahzad Ali said that on Eid day, two special trains plied the Mymensingh-Kishoreganj-Mymensingh and Bhairab-Kishoreganj-Bhairab routes to help people to attend the Eid prayers at Sholakia, where the country’s largest Eid congregation was held.
Many people in Rajshahi were not getting tickets of various intercity trains to return to Dhaka.
The railway operation department’s assistant director, Saidur Rahman, said that the railway’s return tickets to Dhaka were sold out by August 31.
‘So if the people want to come back to Dhaka they will have to buy standing tickets,’ he said, and added that standing tickets would not be available in the First Class or AC coaches.
According to the railway authorities, 150 new and repaired coaches joined the existing fleet on August 14.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation added 130 buses to its fleet a week ahead of the Eid to facilitate the movement of passengers.
The corporation’s director (administration and operation), SM Faisal Alam, said that the rush of returnees would start from Thursday (today).
Shyamoli Paribahan’s Gabotli branch’s manager, Mohammad Alamgir Kabir, told New Age on Wednesday that a few people came back to Dhaka from Bogra, Naogaon, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Pabna, Meherpur, Chittagong, and Kolkata.
-With New Age input
