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Homebound Trips

Tailbacks on highways

Trains delayed

Pankaj Karmakar^Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary
Enduring gridlock, delay, overloading and overcharging, thousands of holidaymakers yesterday left Dhaka for village homes to celebrate Eid.
Railway passengers, especially those travelling to northern districts, had the worst of experiences yesterday as trains were delayed for two to seven hours due to derailment of an intercity train at Sardah station Wednesday7 evening. Bus passengers also suffered long tailbacks on highways while launches left overcrowded with many passengers taking the top deck defy-inggovernment prohibition.
Against such backdrop, allegation of overcharging has also been brought against Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTG).
Although, rail communication between Rajshahi and the capital was restored around Thursday noon, 19 hours after the derailment, all trains for the northern route got stuck at the station causing immense suffering to passengers.
Railway officials claimed that a total of 28 trains departed from Kamalapur Railway Station of the capital until 6:00pm. Of those, six delayed for 30 minutes to four hours while nine started five minutes to half-an-hour late while 14 left platform on time.
Most of the trains from the west zone also reached the capital late affecting the departure lime from Dhaka. Railway officials think this situation will prevail until the Eid day.
Communications and Railways Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday visited Kamalapur station. There he told journalists that the railway authorities had been trying their best to minimise the suffering of passengers.
Meanwhile, a man about the age of 40 years died yesterday falling from the overcrowded roof of a train near Uttara.
Although most of the buses left the city on lime, thousands of home-bound people suffered long traffic jams on highways.
A 40-kilometre tailback from Chandina upazila to Meghna bridge was created as a lorry broke down at Daudkandi in Comilla early Friday. Vehicular movement on the highway eased around 3:30pm.
Traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh route remained
slow all day. A bus owner of this route said it took them twice the time to reach Mymensingh from the capital.
The home rush also created long tailback on Dhaka-Tangail highway.
A Mawa-bound passenger alleged that the staffs at BRTC bus counter at the capital's Phulbaria charged himTk 100 whereas the fare was written Tk67on the ticket.
Visiting the BRTC terminal in Phulbaria, it was seen that BRTC staffs were charging Tk 140 in place of the usual Tk 90 for travelling up to Paturia ferry terminal in Manikganj. One had to pay in full even if they got off midway, in Savar or Manikganj city.
A resident of Dashora area in Manikganj municipality alleged that the BRTC staffs had charged him Tk 200 although it was written Tk 140 on the ticket.
However, neither the BRTC chairman nor any spokesperson could be contacted over the phone for their comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, all the launches departed the Sadarghat terminal overloaded with passengers almost three times more than their capacity.
Asked about it, Rafiqul Islam, senior deputy director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said: "We are facing excessive pressure today. Overloading may be occurring but it has not reached the danger level.”
He expected that around 110 launches would depart from the capital by midnight.
Thousands of launch passengers thronged the terminal since early morning to secure a space in the vessel. The cabin tickets were sold out at least two weeks ago, but people were seen struggling for their booked space.
The last-moment passengers were found travelling precariously on the decks and in front of the master bridges. Like previous days, many were seen boarding on
launches in mid-river by boats.
Our Madaripur correspondent reported that water and road transport operators at Mawa-Kewrakandi ferry route were charging more fare from passengers ahead of Eid.
Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan yesterday visited the terminal and urged the launch owners to keep from overcharging passengers and overloading, and comply with the safety rules. He also asked passengers to be aware of their own safety.