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Tailbacks delay trips to Dhaka

Buses, trains run behind schedule; inclement weather aggravates sufferings

Star Report
Traffic misery turned into a nightmare yesterday for thousands of Eid holidaymakers on their way back to the capital due to heavy traffic congestion on all the bus, train and launch routes compounded by inclement weather.
Five days after the Eid-ul-Ajha celebration, thousands of passengers including women and children from the southern, western and northern districts suffered acutely for hours owing to long tailbacks on the Tangail-Gazipur (Elenga to Chandra), Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Mawa highways, and also at Mawa, Aricha, and Paturia ferry terminals.
The scheduled railway trips collapsed totally as each of all nine inter-city trains bound for Dhaka was delayed at least by eight hours. Ekata Express from Dinajpur was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka at 7:15 on yesterday morning but it did not arrive until 3:00 in the afternoon.
It could not be known what happened to the rest of the trains as Khairul Bashir, Kamalapur railway station manager, was not available at his office. Nor could he be contacted over the phone despite several attempts.
Mahbub Hossain, an employee at a garment factory, said it took him ten hours to arrive in Konabari of Gazipur which is usually a three-hour ride, reports our Gazipur correspondent.
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Abdul Mannan, another garment employee, said it took him seven hours to travel a one-hour distance from Tangail to Chandra of Gazipur as buses moved as slowly as rickshaws due to long tailbacks on the highway.
“It is unbearable to remain trapped in a bus, along with my wife and child, for so long for such a short distance," he said.
Abul Kalam, president of Mohakhali Bus Terminal Sharak Poribahan Owners Association, said that sufferings of women and children during such tailbacks know no bound as the highways lack basic facilities like a toilet or a washroom.
The 45-km stretch from Konabari to Elenga has been in a dilapidated state for several years while the condition of the 100-km Dhaka-Mymensingh highway has been awful with an ongoing road widening project for the past six years, he said.
Vehicles from 26 northern and western districts and the greater Mymensingh had to move at a snail's pace due to rain and a large number of buses along the 65-km highway from Mirzapur to Bangabandhu Bridge, reports ourTangail correspondent.
Several road accidents caused a 25-km tailback on the narrow Dhaka-Tangail highway.
Jubaidul Alam, officer-in-charge of Gorai Highway Police Station, said
there was no prolonged traffic gridlock but vehicles moved slowly owing to the heavy rush.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) transferred over 500 vehicles from Kawrakandi terminal to Mawa with 17 ferries till midday yesterday, reports our Munshiganj correspondent quoting Sirajul Islam, a manager of BIWTC.
Hundreds of passengers got on board the BIWTC ferries as the authorities suspended operation of launch and speedboats plying between Mawa and Kawrakandi on account of inclement weather.
But over three hundred vehicles were waiting in a one-km queue at Kawrakandi terminal to cross the mighty Padma, said BIWTC Kawrakandi terminal manager.
Unscrupulous speedboat operators at Mawa and transport operators on the Dhaka-Mawa highway exacted much higher fares than usual taking advantage of passengers' onrush.
Our Manikganj correspondent reports that bus conductors on the Dhaka-Aricha highway charged Tk 200 to 300 against the usual fare ofTk 65.
Hundreds of passengers could not get aboard Dhaka-bound launches from Barisal and Chandpur as the authorities made the overcrowded vessels leave the river ports ahead of schedule, report our Barisal and Chandpur correspondents.