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Holidaymakers suffer

Traffic congestion on battered roads delays journey

Star Report
The journey of Eid holidaymakers was disrupted yesterday on Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Gazipur highways due to workers' agitation, poor road conditions and an accident.
However, the situation was better on other highways.
Highway Police and transport oper-
ators fear that there will be a real crisis from today, the last working day before Eid-ul-Fitr, when people in larger numbers will stream out of the capital.
Additional police have been deployed to ensure a smooth movement of vehicles.
Traffic was hampered on the Dhaka-Aricha highway as workers of at least four garment factories blocked a lane for around half-an-hour from 2:30pm
at Hemayetpur in Savar. Earlier in the day, vehicular movement was usual on the route.
On Dhaka-Chittagong highway, hundreds of passengers got stuck in a 35-kilometre tailback following a collision between two covered vans on the Meghna-Gumti bridge in Comilla around 2:00am.
The gridlock stretched from Gomta
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in Chandina upazila of Comilla to Bhater Char in Gazaria of Munshiganj, said Mizanur Rahman, officerin-charge of Gouripur Highway Police. Traffic operations resumed around 11:00am.
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader had to travel on the wrong side of the highway while going to Feni.
A frustrated Quader phoned Asaduzzaman Mia, deputy inspector general of Highway Police, and asked him to take immediate steps to ease the movement of traffic.
Also on the day, bad conditions of the roads and haphazard parking of vehicles obstructed the traffic flow on the Dhaka-Gazipur route.
Vehicles moved very slowly from Tongi bridge up to Joydevpur Chourasta throughout the day due to haphazard picking and dropping of passengers, waterlogging caused by rain and illegal shops on the highways, reports our
Gazipur correspondent.
Also, a tailback gripped the highway for half-an-hour in the afternoon due to a blockade by garment workers in Tongi College gate area around 5:30pm.
From Joydevpur, the movement of traffic was smooth up to Mymensingh and other districts.
According to transport operators, buses were being smoothly ferried across the river Padma through Paturia and Mawa terminals so far. Thirteen ferries were carrying vehicles on the Paturia-Daulatdia route.
However, loading and offloading of vehicles was disrupted at Mawa terminal due to a downpour in the morning. Fourteen ferries are now in operation on the Mawa-Kaorakandi ferry route. Two more ferries will be added tomorrow.
The transport and launch operators say this year's situation is better so far, but they fear that there will be a huge pressure today.
Already, bus and launch terminals and railway stations were crowded with
holidaymakers yesterday. The mad rush will reach its peak today and tomorrow.
A usual scenario of traffic congestion was seen at the exit points of Dhaka, except in Jatrabari.
As on other days, commuters had to face difficulties in crossing the Jatrabari exit point due to the nagging traffic jam caused by a haphazard parking of vehicles on roads. The jam covered a 4-kilometre stretch from Jatrabari.
Traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway was normal all day long yesterday and the holidaymakers were seen going to their destinations without much suffering.
Highway Police said removing the unnecessary speed breakers at different places on the highway was helping a smooth movement of vehicles.
Asaduzzaman Mia, deputy inspector general of highway police, told The Daily Star that the force was working round the clock to minimize the traffic jam on the highways.