2.8m people have left Dhaka for Eid

About 2.5 to 2.8 (25 lakh to 28 lakh) million mobile phone users have left Dhaka in the last seven days till 6.00pm on Monday. This number is much lower in comparison to the time of last year’s general holiday declared to contain the transmission of coronavirus.

A mobile operator in the country has revealed this figure, analysing their database and call trends. The number is based on unique users. It means people who uses multiple SIM cards have been counted as one person.

Officials at the National Telecom Monitoring Centre (NTMC) told Prothom Alo that 11 million (1 crore 10 lakh) mobile phone users had left Dhaka by 20 April after the government declared a general holiday from 26 March last year to prevent coronavirus infection. It could not be confirmed whether this number is based on unique users or not.

This time the account of 2.8 million people leaving Dhaka is made on the assessment of the last seven days. People and children who are not mobile phone users are not included in this assessment. On condition of anonymity, a senior official of the mobile operator told Prothom Alo that this time the number of people who left Dhaka is lower than last year. This can be understood by analysing the data.

Meanwhile, like the last few days, the homebound people had crowded on the roads and ghats (jetties) on Monday too. They set out for their home on buses, microbuses, private cars, auto rickshaws and motorcycles on intra district routes. However, the pressure was a little less than the previous three days.

Due to massive sufferings of people, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) has increased the number of ferries at the ghats connecting the south and south-western region of the country with Dhaka. From Monday evening, the concerned authority started to operate more ferries at the ghats to reduce people’s sufferings.

Syed Md Tajul Islam, chairman of the BIWTC, told Prothom Alo that considering the pressure of passengers they have decided to increase the number of ferries operating.

There are no updated statistics on how many people live in Dhaka. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) published in 2016, the population in and around the capital Dhaka was about 17 (1 crore 70 lakh) million. A large part of this population goes to the villages on the holy Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.

However, in order to prevent coronavirus transmission, the government issued a notification on 5 May banning the employees of government and private offices from leaving their workplaces. The long-haul buses are not operating. Despite that, people are travelling long distances using various other vehicles. They are facing all sorts of difficulties. The fares have been doubled too and health guidelines are not being followed at all.

Most of the people who are leaving Dhaka are low income people. A portion of them live in Dhaka for work while their families live in villages. Asaduzzaman is one of them. He left for Barishal on a microbus on Monday evening. He said the microbus would directly go to Barishal and the fare per head is Tk 1,200. Usually the fare is Tk 450 in normal time which increases to Tk 550 during Eid.

Rickshaw puller Ashraful Islam left Dhaka with his wife and children for Maheshpur in Jhenidah. He somehow managed to get on the ferry with his daughter at Paturia ferry ghat, but his wife couldn’t. Speaking to Prothom Alo at Daulatdia ghat, he said his wife used the phone of a person nearby to contact him.

A youth named Iqbal Hossain seemed to be quite pleased after reaching Banglabazar ghat from Shimulia. He was going to Khulna. He said, “It is a bit scary to travel home in a huddle amid this pandemic. But what else could I do? My wife and children have been waiting for me for the last two days.”

Yasmin Ara, 21, a hosiery worker in Demra, Dhaka, was waiting with her younger sister Jasmine Ara, 23, at the Shimrail junction on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. They were going to celebrate Eid with their parents at Dagonbhuiyan in Feni. When asked about the reason for going home despite the risk of coronavirus, Jasmine said, “The government has imposed lockdown, but has not ensured food for us. I have handled my problems on my own. If anything occurs, it is we who would handle it.”

These two sisters got on a Feni bound microbus at a fare of Tk 800 per head on the condition of getting off if there was a problem on the way. In normal times, the fare would be Tk 400 per head.

Although the long-haul buses are not operating, the number of other vehicles on the road has increased a lot. One can get an idea of how much it has increased by calculating the number of vehicles crossing the Bangabandhu Bridge.

According to a source from the toll plaza of the bridge, till 6.00am on Monday a total of 31,899 vehicles had crossed the bridge in the last 24 hours. Usually this number varies between 12,000 and 13,000 in normal times.

Meanwhile, due to the pressure of additional vehicles, a 5 km traffic jam was created in the bridge area on Monday morning. The situation became normal in the afternoon.

Not only the southern or northern region, people are heading towards all the regions of the country. They face continued suffering and high fares. No efforts have been made to enforce the health guidelines.

‘A plan could have been made in advance’

Most of the apparel factories in the capital and adjacent areas will be closed for the Eid vacation on Tuesday. Therefore, the pressure on the roads may increase. After some demonstrations at different places by the garment workers, most of the apparel factories have declared five to ten days of holiday. However, as per the government instructions, the Eid holiday cannot be more than three days.

Former director of the disease control unit of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Be-Nazir Ahmed told Prothom Alo on Sunday night that some people would go to their villages despite the risk of coronavirus. For a garment worker couple, whose children live in a village, going home is essential. But it’s not the same for others.

He further said by analysing the people who need to go to their villages despite the threat of coronavirus and their socioeconomic condition, a plan could have been made in advance. Steps should have been taken to conduct a campaign discouraging the people to go home, to publish public messages on this issue an other related activities. Again arrangements could have been made to ensure health guidelines on the way back home for the people who would leave Dhaka despite all these efforts.

[Prothom Alo correspondents in Gazipur, Munshiganj, Madaripur, Manikganj, Goalanda, Tangail and Narayanganj assisted in preparing this report]

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo online and print editions, has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu