Shawdesh Desk:

Long queues of vehicles were seen on Mawa and Jajira ends of  the Padma Bridge after the much-awaited  bridge opened to traffic at 6 am on Sunday , a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated it.

Our Munshiganj correspondent reports: People started thronging the Mawa point of the bridge since night to cross the bridge at first chance.

Long queues of southern-western districts- bound vehicles including motorbikes, buses, trucks were seen waiting to cross the bridge.

Aminul Islam, 35, who came from Kamrangirchar area, crossed the bridge first after paying toll at Mawa point.

He said he along with 100 other motorbikes riders came here to cross the bridge.

Toll collection at Mawa point was delayed due to manual system. Five booths out of six were opened on Sunday for collecting toll.

Syed Rajab Ali, executive engineer of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, said toll collection process is a bit slow as today is the first day. The process will be speedy later, he hoped.

The government on May 17 finalised the toll rate for different types of vehicles for crossing the Padma Multipurpose Bridge. The Bridges Division under Road Transport and Bridges Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard.

According to the government decision, Tk 100 toll has been fixed for motorbike, Tk 750 for private car and jeep, Tk 1200 from pick-up, Tk 1300 for microbus, Tk 1400 for small bus (with 31 seats), Tk 2000 for middle bus (with 32 seats), Tk 2400 for big size bus, Tk 1600 for small truck (5 tonnes), Tk 2100 for middle size truck (over 5 tonnes to 8 tonnes),  Tk 2800 for middle size truck (over 8 tonnes to 11 tonnes), Tk 5500 for big truck (up to 3 excel) Tk 6000 for trailer truck (4 excel) and Tk 6,000 plus for trailer (over 4 excel).

Earlier, on Saturday, Bangladesh wrote another golden chapter in history when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the Padma Bridge turning the nation’s dream into a reality.