Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samiti, a passenger welfare body, has urged the government to extend the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays by two days for the ease of the holidaymakers.
The organisation’s secretary general Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury came up with the call at a press conference held at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the capital on Wednesday.
According to BJKS’s observations, 10 million from Dhaka, 4 million from Gazipur, 1.2 million from Narayanganj and 800,000 people from surrounding districts will travel to different districts of the country to celebrate Eid with their loved ones.
In the four days before Eid, about 3 million passengers can travel by buses and minibuses, 4 million by train, 3.5 million by car, jeep and microbus, 1.2 million by motorcycle, 6 million by launch, and about 1 million by aeroplane.
Meanwhile, as many as 1.8 million passengers may travel on bus or train roofs, trucks and freighters due to a shortage of public transport and overcharging. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said: “If proper use of public transport is not ensured, there may be a hellish situation during this year’s Eid travels. Because if there are 30 days of fasting this time, Eid may fall on April 11.”
“There is only one public holiday on April 10 before Eid. There is a five-day holiday from April 10 to April 14. April 14 is Pohela Boishakh. Due to this, people from other religions will also go home. So, the number of passengers will increase,” he added.
He said, “On April 9 and 10, 6 to 7 million people will leave the capital almost every day. But our public transport has the capacity to carry 2.2 to 2.5 million people.
“If the Eid holidays are extended, counting on April 8 and 9, everyone will get a chance to go home starting April 5. The public transport crisis and passenger suffering will also decrease. For this reason, I demand an extension of the Eid holidays by two days,” he added.
There are reports in the media that there may be traffic jams at 714 spots in the country this Eid. Of these, 140 spots require close monitoring.
Police and various intelligence agencies have alerted the government about 218 high-risk accident spots on 10 national and regional highways. Around 60% of road accidents happen in all these spots, the secretary general said.
