Return journeys of holidaymakers towards the capital Dhaka intensified on Friday as all government and non-government offices, banks and factories will reopen tomorrow after a 10-day holiday for Eid-ul-Azha.
Eid-ul-Azha, one of the largest religious festivals of the Muslims, was celebrated in the country on June 7. The 10-day holiday began on June 5.
A huge rush of Dhaka-bound people from different districts kept the capital鈥檚 train stations, bus and launch terminals crowded throughout Friday. These stations and terminals in different districts were seen crowded with the passengers on their return journeys.
The return journeys remained mostly comfortable on key highways as no major traffic congestion was reported on the day.
Quite a few people were seen following the government directive over wearing masks for preventing the spread of the new variant of coronavirus responsible for a fresh spike in Covid infections in the country.
In the capital, since Friday morning different trains coming from all directions to the Dhaka rail station in Kamalapur area had been seen packed with passengers.
A few people were seen leaving Dhaka by trains on the day.
The station manager, Sajedul Islam, said that the number of passengers on their return journeys to the capital would increase today and the rush would continue till tomorrow.
Some of the trains, including Ekota Express on the Dhaka-Panchagarh route and Rangpur Express on the Dhaka-Rangpur route, were seen running about two hours behind their schedules on the day.
The transport staff at different counters for the inter-district bus companies spent a busy day at Gabtoli, Saidabad and Mohakhali terminals in Dhaka.
At the Sadarghat launch terminal, since Friday morning passengers mainly from the southern districts had arrived at the terminal by launches.
The rush of passengers would continue till tomorrow, said Md Mubarak Hossain, joint director of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
Till 6:00pm on Friday, a total of 88 launches entered Dhaka, while the number usually remains between 50 and 52, he added.
抖阴精品 correspondent in Tangail reported that the pressure of Dhaka-bound vehicles on the Tangail- Jamuna Bridge highway increased.
A total of 38,539 vehicles 鈥� 22,159 Dhaka-bound and 16,380 North Bengal-bound 鈥� crossed the Jamuna Bridge in the past 24 hours from June 11 midnight to June 12 midnight and Tk 27.969 million in toll was collected.
Our correspondent in Barishal reported that though the holidays would end tomorrow, many people from the South had started returning to work one or two days before the timeframe to avoid hassle.
Manowara Begum, a Dhaka bound passenger of MV Parabat launch said, 鈥業t is difficult to travel at the closing of holidays due to a heavy rush. So I am leaving one day earlier.鈥�
At Elisha Ghat in Bhola, some passengers alleged that there was a shortage of launches.
Asma Akhter, a resident of Bhola Sadar and a garment worker at the Chittagong EPZ, said that, 鈥業 have been waiting at Elisha Ghat since 6:00am to go to Chattogram. But I have not been able to board any launch until 2:00pm.鈥�
At the Barishal Nathullabad and Rupatali central bus terminals in the Barishal city, there were crowds of north-, south- and west-bound passengers on Friday.
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Barishal office manager (operation) Jamil Hossain said that they were currently running 33 to 40 BRTC buses from the Barishal BRTC depot on different routes.