The rush of holidaymakers has caused heavy traffic congestions at the Padma Bridge, Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway and Dhaka-Chattogram Highway on Friday.
Workers at a garment factory have blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway for nearly an hour and a half to demand arrears and Eid bonus in Cumillas Chandina on the. Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. The protest blocked thousands of vehicles on the highway, leading to suffering for drivers and passengers.
A 3-kilometre (km) long tailback has been created in front of the toll plaza of Padma Bridge, as the homebound rush began to pick up on Friday.
Starting from Mawa end of Munshiganj, the tailback went beyond Kamarkhola of Sreenagar upazila on Friday morning, causing immense sufferings to the homebound passengers.
Motorcycle booths were increased from one to two due to heavy traffic. Currently, there are seven toll booths working at the toll plaza to ease the traffic congestion.
The toll plaza authorities said the Electronic Toll Collection System-ETC, which started on a trial basis 11 months ago for collecting tolls on moving vehicles, has not yet been fully operational.
The authorities said the cars were moving slowly due to the pressure of vehicles, but they were doing their best to keep traffic flowing.
Seven booths on the bridge are collecting tolls, but it has done little to ease the number of vehicles pouring in. Long tailbacks stretched away from the bridge, especially along the lane for motorcycles. Motorcycles and other vehicles descended on the Padma Bridge area early on Friday morning.
The tailbacks later extended nearly 3 km from the toll plaza on the Mawa end at Munshiganjs Louhajang upazila to Sreenagar upazila.
Due to the onrush of motorcycles, the number of booths tending to the vehicles was increased to two around dawn, but later reduced to one again as other vehicles arrived at the bridge.
"In addition to motorcycles, there is a rush of cars and buses," said Syed Rajab Ali, Supervising Engineer of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority. "More traffic is typical during Eid, so the traffic is moving normally." People hailing from the south-west of the country are travelling to the Paturia Ferry Ghat in Manikganj on their way home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha.
They were able to travel along the route to Daulatdia comfortably as there were sufficient ferries and launches to meet the traffic at the dock on Friday.
The Paturia-Daulatdia water route is one of the major points of connectivity between the capital Dhaka and many of the south-western districts. Typically travellers would have to endure long, difficult waits on the route every year. Hundreds of working people from the southwestern region of the country set off from Paturia on Friday aboard ferries and launches taking them towards their family homes. About 30-Kilometer long tailback formed on northern lane on Friday as a goods-laden truck overturned on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway.
Mir Md Sajedul Rahman, In-Charge of Elenga Highway Police Outpost, said the traffic movement came to a standstill as a truck overturned and its goods fell on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge Highway in Pungli area of Kalihati upazila early Friday.
About 30-kilometre-long tailback has been created from Pungli to Ashekpur Bypass in Tangail. Later, the truck was removed from the Highway at around 8:00am.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Eid-ul-Azha holidaymakers have been suffering as the vehicular movement from Elenga to the Gharinda underpass has slowed.
Workers at a garments factory have blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway for nearly an hour and a half to demand arrears and an Eid bonus in Cumillas Chandina.
The protest blocked thousands of vehicles on the Highway, leading to suffering for drivers and passengers.
The workers from the Denim Processing Plant in the Belashahar area of Chandina blocked the road from 11:00am to around 12:30pm on Sunday. The factory is right next to the Highway. The blockade led to a 20-km-long tailback on the Highway.
"Lanes in both directions on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway were heavily congested due to the workers blockade," said Manzurul Alam, chief of Eliotganj Highway Police Station. "The traffic returned to normal once the workers left the road." He adding that the traffic started to be normalizes after the blockade was lifted at 1:00pm, though it would take some time for the situation to return to normal completely.
