Stranded for hours on highways

Long tailbacks on Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Chittagong highways left hundreds of people stranded for hours yesterday causing immense sufferings to them.

On the other hand, home goers faced little trouble at Paturia-Daulatdia ferry ghats as less number of vehicles plied this route to avoid long wait for ferry services.

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Many vehicles of the south and southwestern districts, which were supposed to take the Paturia-Daulatdia route, drove down the Dhaka-Tangail highway and as a result there were long lines of vehicles clogging different parts of the road.

The Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway witnessed 13 kilometer-long traffic congestion at Munshiganj early yesterday after two fatal accidents had taken place and a goods-laden truck had gotten out of order on the two-lane Meghna bridge.

However, Dhaka-Mawa, Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Sylhet highways witnessed less or no traffic jam, reports our district correspondents quoting highway police officials as saying.

Meanwhile, strong current washed away a ferry landing station that was supposed to open shortly. The ferry station was closed since Monday morning.

the seemingly endless queue of vehicles on Dhaka-Tangail highway at Gharinda near Tangail town at 3:15pm yesterday. Another queue at Paturia ferry terminal at 4:00pm, Photo: Star

The authorities on Monday claimed that they made good progress towards reinstalling the landing station.

It became uncertain as to whether the authorities would be able to operate two ferry ghats on Daulatdia part ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, said officials of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority. 

SUFFERINGS ON DHAKA-TANGAIL HIGHWAY

Vehicles were moving at a snail's pace on the highway amid huge traffic jam from 10:00am, said sources in the highway police and transport workers.

Lack of lavatories on the highway increased the sufferings manifold of home-bound passengers, especially women and children, they said.

A huge number of capital-bound cattle-laden trucks, empty trucks that were returning and rain added to the traffic situation at some points of the 64-km highway, sources said.

Mazharul Islam, an employee of a private firm in Dhaka, said it took him eight hours to reach Tangail. 

He set out at 6:00am from the capital's Mohakhali and reached Tangail around 2:30pm. Usually the journey takes three hours. 

Mahbub Alam, superintendent of Tangail police, said, “The pressure of additional vehicles moving on the highway due to the suspension of ferries at the Paturia ghat made the situation worse.”

He said that more law enforcers had been engaged this year to ensure smooth vehicular movement on the highway.

“Police are patrolling after every two kilometers and internet protocol cameras have been installed at ten spots along the highway to monitor the situation,” he said, adding that community police began working yesterday and volunteers would be engaged from September 10 to facilitate smooth journey of the holiday makers.

DHAKA-CHITTAGONG HIGHWAY

People travelling to Chittagong and Dhaka through the highway had to face terrible traffic jam from early morning until afternoon in Munshiganj.

Two road accidents at Voberchar of Gazaria upazila, a covered van's becoming out of order on Meghna bridge and people rushing towards home contributed to a more-than-13-kilometer standstill on the highway.

A pick-up driver named Rajib was killed in a head-on collision with a covered van at Bausia Pakirmore under Gazaria upazila.

DHAKA-PATURIA HIGHWAY

Less number of vehicles plied the Dhaka-Paturia highway yesterday to avoid long wait at the ferry terminal, as two out of four terminals remained closed since Monday morning.

There was no traffic jam on the 48-kilometer highway, said Anwar Hossain, an inspector of Manikganj Traffic office.

“We waited for two and a half hours at the Paturia ghat as there were less vehicles waiting for ferry service,” said Magura- bound passenger Hasan Sayeed who crossed the Padma river around 3:45pm.

People waited at least 4-10 hours in the last couple of days to get ferry services and there were long queues of vehicles stranded on both sides of the river.

DHAKA-MAWA HIGHWAY

The Dhaka-Mawa highway had no traffic congestion yesterday and the ferry services were smooth on both sides of the Mawa-Kewrakandi route. A total of 17 ferries were operating non-stop.

Our Manikganj correspondent Zahangir Shah and Munshiganj correspondent Farhana Mirza Barna also contributed to this report.