2024-03-27 10:19:57
Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association has claimed that one crore people will leave the capital on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. The organization has also demanded that the Eid holiday be extended by 2 days in order to reduce the suffering during Eid travel, harassment of passengers on the way, fare anarchy and road accidents.
In a press conference organized at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Wednesday (March 27) to make the Eid trip safe and hassle-free, Secretary General of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association Md. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made these demands.
Read: Passenger welfare association demands extension of Eid holiday by 2 days
According to the observation of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, 1 crore people from Dhaka, 4 million from Gazipur, 1.2 million from Narayanganj and 16 million people from Dhaka and surrounding districts will travel to different districts of the country this Eid. In the four days before Eid, 3 million passengers can travel by minibus, 4 million by train, 3.5 million by private car, jeep and microbus, 1.2 million by motorcycle, 6.0 million by launch, and about 1 million by airplane.
Due to the public transport crisis and the anarchy of overcharging, 1.8 lakh passengers may travel on the roofs of buses, trains and open trucks and freight transport. Also about 4 to 5 crore passengers will travel to Antjela. In this, from April 5 to April 14, there may be an additional 60 million trip passengers in different types of transport in the country due to various reasons including travel to Eid Bazaar, village home.
For this reason, if proper use of public transport is not ensured, the Yatri Kalyan Samiti fears that this year’s Eid trip will be a hellish situation.
The organization says, if there are 30 fasts this time, Eid can be on April 11. There is only 1 day public holiday on April 10 before Eid. After Eid there is a long holiday of 5 days from April 10 to April 14. As April 14 is Pahela Baishakh, this year’s Eid Yatra, along with Muslims, other religious people will also go to their villages for the benefit of a long holiday to celebrate Pahela Baishakh. So the number of passengers will increase.
On April 9 and 10, 60 to 70 lakh people will leave the capital every day. But public transport has the capacity to carry 22 to 25 lakh people. In such a situation, if the holiday is not extended before Eid, the traffic situation in all the roads of the country may go into a coma. Therefore, if the Eid holiday is extended for 2 days on April 8 and 9, everyone will have the opportunity to go home comfortably, step by step, from April 5. Public transport crisis and passenger suffering will also be relieved. For this reason, the organization has demanded to extend Eid holiday by 2 days on April 8 and 9.
In a written statement at the press conference, it was said that there may be traffic jams at 714 places in the country this Eid. Out of which 140 spots need close monitoring. Police and various intelligence agencies have alerted the government about 218 high-risk accident spots on 10 national and regional highways.
Observations have shown that 60 percent of road accidents occur at these spots. During this year’s Eid trip, the residents of the capital will suffer the most due to traffic jams. Therefore, it is demanded to free the sidewalk hawkers and illegal parking on every road of the capital from this moment.
It is also said that the passengers will have to face unbearable traffic at the entrances from the capital to different districts of the country. To control these traffic jams, it is demanded to take steps to keep the road junction clear and to stop the movement of small vehicles especially rickshaws, battery-powered rickshaws, easy bikes on the main road. If not, it is warned that different areas of the capital may be immobilized from next 25 Ramadan till the morning of Eid.
According to the observations of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, 328 people were killed and 565 injured in 304 road accidents during Eid-ul-Fitr in 2023. This year too, if the Eid holidays are not managed, there is a possibility that the number of road and boat accidents will increase as the passenger pressure will double.