Extend Eid holidays by 2 days for smoother travels: Passengers' Welfare Association
If 30 days of fasting are completed, Eid will be celebrated on 11 April, which means people will only get 10 April as holiday before Eid.
1.60 crore people will leave Gazipur, Narayanganj, Dhaka and adjacent districts this time, the organisation estimates
The Passengers' Welfare Association of Bangladesh has demanded a two-day extension of general holidays on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr in a bid to contain pressure on public transports, thereby reducing passenger sufferings and road accidents.
Addressing a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Wednesday (27 March), the association's Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury called for 8 and 9 April to be added to the general holidays on the occasion.
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If Ramadan lasts for 30 days, Eid will be celebrated on 11 April. As such, with only one day before Eid, people will get a five-day public holiday from 10 to 14 April. Since 14 April is Pahela Baishakh, not only Muslims, people of other religions may also travel to celebrate the Bangla New Year, contributing to the rush of passengers.
Mozammel said if the holidaymakers get only 10 April as a government holiday before Eid, there will be a mad rush of traffic that day and vehicles may literally come to a standstill.
If the holiday is not extended before Eid, the traffic situation on all roads of the country may come to a standstill.
According to the organisation's estimate, around 1.60 crore people – 1 crore from Dhaka city, 40 lakh from Gazipur, 12 lakh from Narayanganj and 8 lakh from Dhaka and surrounding districts – will travel to various districts on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
In the four days before Eid, 30 lakh passengers can travel by bus-minibus, 4 lakh by train, 35 lakh by private car, jeep and microbus, 12 lakh by motorcycle, 60 lakh by launch, and around 1 lakh by airplane.
Due to the public transport crisis and overcharging during Eid, 18 lakh passengers may travel on the roofs of buses, trains and open trucks and freight transport. Also, around 4 to 5 crore passengers will travel inter-district.
Mozammel further said between 9 and 10 April, 60 to 70 lakh people will leave the capital each day but the public transport has the capacity to carry 22 to 25 lakh people.
Therefore, if the Eid holiday is extended by two days on 8 and 9 April, everyone will get a chance to go home step by step from 5 April, he added.
