Flouting the Covid-19 health guideline, a large number of people on Friday started leaving Dhaka city for their roots to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha.
Taking advantage of the government's periodic withdrawal of restrictions on the movement of people and traffic, city-dwellers in their multitudes were seen moving towards exit points for departure.
As a result, the pressure of passengers on bus, railway and launch terminals was too heavy throughout the day.
But the chilling part of such rampant trips was the frequent violation of health rules by travellers.
Mohammad Jasim, who was moving to Habiganj with his family to celebrate Eid, said they had decided to leave Dhaka during this relaxed time of restrictions.
But the FE found half of his six-member family without masks.
The situation was almost the same for many families at the Saidabad bus terminal.
On the other hand, the Covid-related health rules are hardly followed by people at launch terminals as water vessels allowed excess passengers.
While visiting Dhaka River Port Terminal, commonly known as Sadarghat launch terminal, in the afternoon the FE found Eid holidaymakers travelling by different launch services.
"I'm leaving Dhaka for my village home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha to avoid the last-hour hassle," said Md Abdul Aziz Biswas, a Barisal-bound passenger accompanied by his four-member family.
Visiting the Saidabad terminal last week, the state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury warned of taking tough action against launch operators or passengers in case of violating the health-safety protocol.
However, the staffers of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority were seen checking passengers for face masks before allowing them inside the terminal.
But after getting on board the launches, most of the passengers looked relaxed as they were reluctant to wear masks again.
Launch operators say they make sure that each passenger sits on a marked place of a launch dock as part of the government's health-safety directive while travelling.
An operator said they would expect a big rush of passengers from today (Saturday).
Meanwhile, people are thronging shopping malls and markets to buy their necessary stuff, ignoring health-safety rules.
