Hundreds of thousands of people left Dhaka on Tuesday, the last day before Eid-ul-Azha, to celebrate the festival with near and dear ones in rural towns and villages.
Reports from various spots say there is hardly any sign of compliance with health rules required to follow to prevent spread of the coronavirus.
Buses and cars are full of passengers on almost every highway and traffic movement is reportedly slow.
Crowds of homebound people are also seen at Kamalapur Railway station and Saddarghat Launch Terminal.
Like in the past few days, a long tailback has been created on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway, according to witnesses.
Almost a 35-tailback has been formed on the Dhaka-Tangail highway from the eastern part of Bangabandhu Bridge to Tangail Sadar since Monday night, they said this day (Tuesday) afternoon at 1:00pm. The highway connects the northern region of Bangladesh.
However, traffic policemen said the tailback was not so long. They said it was along some10 to 12km of. the highway.
Traffic mismanagement, on-going renovation work of the highway and bridges, particularly of Sirajganj’s Nalka bridge, and excessive pressure of vehicles are mainly some reasons of heavy traffic pressure on this highway this time ahead of Eid to be held on Wednesday.
To ply along the highway for five minutes, a vehicle has to wait for at least 20 minutes, Abu Kawser, a local witness, who lives in Bangabandhu Bridge area, told The Financial Express at noon, depicting the tailback situation.
Traffic movement between Bangabandhu Bridge and Elenga Bypass is very slow, he said, adding that there is a long tailback from the western part of Bangabandhu Bridge to Sirajganj Nalka bridge on the highway.
Most of the passengers are spending their idle time either browsing cell phones or gossiping as they do not know when they will be able to reach their destination, Kawser further said.
Jane Alam Bhiyan, a traffic police inspector in Tangail, told The Financial Express that huge traffic pressure between Bangabandhu Bridge and Tangail Sadar has led to a long tailback since Monday night.
He said they are working relentlessly to bring situation to normalcy on the highway.
Traffic pressure has also affected ferry services at Paturia ghat where many people are reportedly suffering for the slowdown.
However, there is thin traffic within the city which looks quiet despite some crowd at cattle markets, say witnesses.
Authorities have relaxed lockdown until July 22, the day after Eid, in order to allow people to reach rural home and return to Dhaka city.