Homebound people who chose to travel by train because of the run-down highways were facing untold sufferings because of disruption in the schedule of trains at Dhaka stations.
Almost all the trains left the Kamalapur railway station on Sunday late by one to four hours.
The Rajshahi-bound Silk City Express train left Kamalapur at 6:30pm but the train was scheduled to leave at 2:40pm, the Dinajpur-bound Ekata Express, which was scheduled to leave at 9:50am was delayed by about two hours while Khulna-bound Jamuna express, which was scheduled to leave the station at 5:30pm, was delayed by half an hour.
The communications minister, Syed Abul Hossain, who visited the Kamalapur station on Sunday, however, claimed that all but two trains left the station on schedule. 'Out of the 38 regular trains for the day, 36 trains left the station on schedule.'
The railway authorities are running three more special trains from the Kamalapur railway station on the occasion of Eid-ul Fitr.
There had, however, been little rush of homebound people to the bus terminals in the city on Sunday with only two or three days left before Eid.
Unlike in the past years, homebound people preferred travel by train this Eid because of shabby condition of roads and highways that had prompted the bus owners to go on strike.
People who were going home by train had to face pain and sufferings at the stations as the trains were leaving the stations abnormally late.
Almost all the trains headed for North Bengal were delayed —a few even by more than two hours.
The people, annoyed at the delay, held railway authorities responsible for the mismanagement.
Anwar Sadat Rabi, who works with Bangladesh Television, bought a ticket to go to Rajshahi and he told New Age that the Silk City Express, scheduled to leave Kamalapur at 2:40pm, had left the station at 6:30pm.
Samir Hossain, another passenger headed for Rajshahi, at 5:00pm told New Age, 'We are not even getting specific information on schedule of the train.'
The station manager, Sitangshu Chakrabarty, passed the blame on technical glitches of the train.
'The trains headed for the north were delayed,' said Sitangshu, who was more busy managing tickets for VIPs such as lawmakers and judges while passengers had been waiting for hours at the station for their trains to arrive.
Run-down highways has almost doubled the journey time this Eid, forcing transport authorities to curtail the number of daily trips and people to travel by train.
There had been little rush to the inter-district bus terminals in Dhaka — at Sayedabad, Gabtali and Mohakhali. Transport operators held the shabby condition of roads responsible for not getting Eid-time passengers up to their expectations.
'We are not making a good business,' Azharul Islam, a man at the Hanif Paribahan counter at Gabtali, told New Age on Sunday. 'The bad condition of roads has prompted many to travel by train.'
A very few people were there at the Mohakhali terminal from where buses leave for five districts including Mymensingh, Sherpur and Jamalpur. The Mohakhali Bus Terminal Road Transport Association president, Abul Kalam, blamed the poor road condition for this.
Launches, meanwhile, were leaving the Sadarghat terminal overcrowded flouting rules government.
Three-fourths of more than 1.3 crore people living in the capital are said to be leaving for their destinations outside Dhaka for Eid although there has been no specific figure available.
Transport operators said that about 32 to 35 lakh people could leave the capital using all modes of transport if Eid journey begins five days before Eid.
Source : New Age