Shawdesh Desk:

Serious disruptions in ferry services and long-route bus movements following the inclement weather, huge rush of cattle-laden vehicles and traffic gridlocks haunted travellers all day long on Thursday on their way to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha in different districts.

Train schedules were also disrupted on the day when a large number of people left the capital as it was the last office day before the three-day public vacation begins Sunday.

Eid travellers, especially on northern and south-western routes, were worst sufferers.

On the day, ferry services on the Shimulia-Kathalbari channel in Munshiganj resumed after around 20 hours and on the Paturia-Daulatdia route after 16 hours due to rough weather, strong currents in the River Padma and huge pressure of cattle-laden trucks.

Long-route bus operations, especially on northern and southern districts, were also severely disrupted following road accidents, traffic gridlocks, rainfalls and limited ferry services.

Almost all trains on the northern and some other routes ran behind the schedules on Thursday.

Meanwhile, passengers alleged charging extra fares in long-route buses, no spray of insecticides in them and lower-classes train compartments and black marketing of train tickets.

Cattle traders alleged extortion from them at different places on their journeys.

As Thursday was the last working day before the Eid on Monday people in huge numbers started leaving Dhaka from the morning.

Rainy weather along with severe traffic congestion put extra burden on the home-goers on their way to railway stations, inter-district bus and launch terminals.

The New Age Correspondent in Munshiganj reported, quoting Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation Shimulia ghat manager (commerce) Abdul Alim, that ferry services on Shimulia-Kathalbari channel resumed around 20 hours later on Thursday 8:00am, which was suspended for strong currents in the river.

A large number of vehicles were seen to wait at Shimulia ghat to cross the river till afternoon.

The New Age Correspondent in Manikganj reported that ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Aricha-Kazirhat routes were suspended from around 3:30pm Wednesday to around 7:30am Thursday due to rough weather, strong currents in the River Padma, pressure of vehicles and shortage of ferries.

BIWTC manager (commerce) Zillur Rahman said that earlier it took 35 to 40 minutes to reach Daulatdia from Paturia but now it took 80 to 90 minutes.

The sufferings of the passengers to 19 south-western districts of the country continued on Thursday as a huge number of cattle-laden vehicles stuck for hours at the Daulatdia ghat under Goalunda upazila of Rajbari district.

Cattle traders of the stranded trucks were in extreme fear due to the heat while they also alleged extortion of money from cattle-laden trucks in Kushtia.

Till writing this report at around 6:30pm, vehicles were stranded in a four-kilometre-long traffic congestion at Daulatdia and a two-kilometre-long traffic gridlock at Paturia.

Mousumi Akter, Runa Begum, Nasima Akter and Abdus Salam like many other bus passengers said they had to wait at Paturia Ghat for more than five hours while the authorities were giving priorities to those to cross the river, who paid them money.

At Gabtali Inter-District Bus Terminal, almost all the buses to the northern districts were late due to traffic congestion on highways and ferry-ghat delays.

Passengers at the terminal alleged that operators were charging extra money from them on almost all routes while they did not use any pesticide spray inside the buses.

Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’ Association president and Shyamoli Paribahan managing director Ramesh Chandra Ghosh told New Age that traffic congestion was seen at the highways from west side of Bangabandhu Bridge at Sirajganj to Chandra at Tangail.

‘The buses are moving at a 10-15 km speed instead of the normal speed of 80-90 km per hour for fear of accidents, traffic congestion and raining,’ he said, adding, ‘As a result all vehicles are arriving in Dhaka at least three hours behind the schedule.’

They instructed all their staffs to spray insecticides inside the buses, he added.

Our Correspondent in Sirajganj reported that since Thursday morning the pressure of vehicles on the Dhaka-Rajshahi and Bogura-Nagarbari highways had been forcing them to run slowly.

At around 10:00am at Konagati and Pachila on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway two accidents took place involving a bus and a trailer and two trucks.

Hatikumrul highway thana sub-inspector Ashraf Ali said that the accidents caused serious traffic gridlocks in the area. The situation became normal after 2:00pm.

On Thursday, some major intercity trains were behind the schedule for the second consecutive day from the Kamalapur railway station.

From the station, Rangpur Express on the Dhaka-Rangpur route started three hours and 22 minutes late, Silk City Express on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route three hours and five minutes late, Ekota Express on the Dhaka-Dinajpur route two hours and 50 minutes late, Nilsagar express on the Dhaka-Nilphamari route two hours and 45 minutes late, Dhumketu express on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route about two hours late and Sundarban Express on the Dhaka-Khulna route started one hour and five minutes late.

TheBangladesh Railway on Thursday resumed rail communications on Gaibandha-Dhaka route after 22 days, which was disrupted by the recent floods, said railway’s director (traffic) Md Mahbubur Rahman.

The New Age Correspondent in Sirajganj reported that passengers at Jamtoil rail station alleged black marketing of intercity train tickets by the booking assistant Mahfizur Rahman and station master Abdul Hannan.

They alleged that the officials were charging Tk 400 instead of government fixed fare of Tk 215 on Sirajganj-Dhaka route by Sirajganj Express.

The officials, however, brushed aside the allegation while railway’s west zone chief commercial manager AMM Shahnewaz urged the people to file written complaint.

A huge pressure of passengers was also seen at the Sadarghat launch terminal in the capital from Thursday morning.

On the day, around 100 launches were scheduled to start for various destinations.