People went on a mass exodus through all exits from the populous capital as a four-day vacation began ahead of celebration of Eid-ul-Azha, set for tomorrow (Sunday) in Bangladesh.
Though a significant number of people had left Dhaka for ancestral homes in past two days, the highest number of departures happened on Friday, said transport-sector insiders.
However, the Eid journey of the people of southern districts was somewhat hassle-free, but holidaymakers of northern Bangladesh had to face immense sufferings for heavy traffic on Dhaka-Tangail highway and severe disruption to train schedules.
On the Dhaka-Tangail highway, a nearly 30-kilometre-long tailback was created amid huge pressure of vehicles towards northern districts, cattle-carrying trucks, roadside cattle markets along the highway and accidents.
Besides, Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, Tongi-Gazipur-Joydebpur highway, and Savar-Ashulia road also got clogged, causing suffering to Eid goers.
Meanwhile, Bangabandhu Bridge, also known as the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, boasts a new daily toll-collection record with Tk 33.40 million as around 44,000 vehicles had crossed the bridge in 24 hours till Thursday midnight.
The homebound passengers at Kamalapur Rail Station in the city suffered a lot following schedule disruptions on different routes of trains.
Most trains, specially the northbound ones, departed, on average, two to three hours past the original schedules.
Visiting the station on the morning of the day, the FE correspondent found thousands of passengers-men and women of all ages and children--eagerly waiting for their respective trains.
Many were also seen travelling on rooftop of trains as they desperately needed to go home for celebrating the holy fiesta with family members.
Besides, passengers were seen flouting health-safety guidelines amid a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic while travelling by train.
North Bengal-bound Nilsagar Express, Dhumketu Express and Rangpur Express were among the trains that could not follow original departure schedules.
Passengers told the FE that they don't prefer journey by bus due to common traffic gridlocks on highways that takes 12 hours to reach the destinations instead of four-to-five-hour journeys.
"I have no way but to go to my home by train," said Md Sirajuddin, a private service-holder, adding that journey by train consumes less time.
"It will take 12-14 hours to go to Rangpur from the capital by bus. So bus journey is troublesome and hassle-prone which I preferred to avoid," he adds about his recourse to the lesser of two evils associated with travels on such occasions in Bangladesh.
North Bengal-, Jamalpur-and Mymensingh-bound trains were heaving with throngs of holidaymakers travelling on train roofs.
However, the trains bound for Chattogram and Sylhet left the station fairly in time.
Unlike in past years, the Sadarghat Launch Terminal was quite easy to enter as people of Barishal Division now have alternative travel route via recently opened Padma Multipurpose Bridge.
Launches on different southern districts routes from Dhaka River Port Terminal at Sadarghat honked out of the terminal as per their original schedules.
Due to the opening of Padma Bridge, there were fewer crowds at the launch terminal.
Passengers said that they did not face any hassle at the terminal this time around and the launch operators did not charge extra money from them either, because of the demand-supply equation elucidated in economics.
"I'm happy due to fewer crowds on launch," Khalil Sikder, a Barishal- bound passenger, happily told the FE.
He said that launch operator did not seek extra from him and other passengers of his launch.
An official of launch service told the FE that they were charging the real fare fixed by the government.
Meanwhile, many people, especially northerners, taking risk of life, were seen leaving Dhaka on open trucks.
On the other side of eid preparation, people went on a buying binge to procure sacrificial animals of their best choice to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha Sunday in Bangladesh, a day after the holy fiesta in Arab and western worlds following the holy hajj performed in Makka on Friday.
