12km tailback on Dhaka-Aricha highway

Commuters heading home ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr had to suffer through a 12km tailback on the Dhaka-Aricha highway on Wednesday.

Massive traffic jams were witnessed on the highway from Tepra point to Baniajuri point, which forced many people to walk a couple of kilometres.

Sources said that lakhs of people have crossed the river on ferries since morning. All the 17 ferries are operating to cater to the mad rush of home-bound people.

Some 800 vehicles and 10,000 people have crossed the river till Wednesday noon, officials said.

Authorities, meanwhile, claimed that people will not face any difficulties in crossing rivers as ferry services are available.

UNB found that hundreds of people reached the Daulatdia-Paturia ghat area in the afternoon on rickshaws, foot and other vehicles, defying all lockdown norms.

Police have installed a number of check-posts on the highway, including in the Barbaria, Singair and Dhalla areas. Though the cops forced many vehicles coming from other districts to return, passengers were quick to get off the vehicles and head towards the ferry ghat on foot.

Amid a mad rush of home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Banglabazar routes were suspended to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) said the decision to suspend ferry services on the two busy water routes, with effect from Saturday morning, was taken in the wake of the ongoing second wave of coronavirus.

But the mad rush of home-bound people later forced them to resume the ferry services, reports UNB.