With factories declaring holidays for the 13th Jatiya Sangsad (national parliamentary) elections, large numbers of working people have begun returning to their villages.
As thousands of people head home all at the same time, traffic pressure has increased several fold on the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways in Gazipur. Traffic congestion is being created intermittently, causing serious hardship for homebound travellers.
Since Tuesday morning, long queues of buses, trucks, cars and other vehicles have been seen in the Chandra, Safipur, Mouchak, and Konabari areas of Gazipur. Journeys are taking several times longer than usual.
Garment worker Rafiqul Islam, travelling from Dhaka to Sirajganj, said, “I got leave from the factory to cast my vote. I set off early in the morning, but after reaching Chandra area I’ve been stuck in traffic for almost an hour. I don’t know when I’ll reach home.”
Hasina Begum, a domestic worker travelling by bus from Gazipur’s Konabari to Rajshahi, said she was enduring the hardship solely to vote. However, she added that travelling with a small child in such heavy traffic has turned extremely difficult.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Konabari Naojor highway police station, Sowgatul Alam said that when there is a long holiday, hundreds of police officers are usually deployed on the highways.
This time the situation is different. All police personnel are busy with election duties. As the number of police on the highways is very limited, vehicles are moving sluggishly in Chandra and surrounding areas. With the few officers available, they are trying to keep traffic moving, he said.
Meanwhile, Prothom Alo correspondent in Tangail’s Mirzapur reported a sharp increase in the number of passengers heading towards the northern districts on the Dhaka-Tangail highway.
Many passengers are waiting for hours but are unable to find buses. As a result, some are being forced to travel on trucks. Passengers have complained that bus drivers and supervisors are taking advantage of the situation by charging extra fares.
Speaking to passengers and local residents, it was learned that during the current season, workers from the northern districts come to Mirzapur in Tangail to work in mustard and paddy fields. They stay in various parts of the upazila for work.
With the national parliamentary election scheduled for Thursday, those wishing to vote began leaving for home from Monday afternoon. Crowds have been heavier since Tuesday morning.
In addition, workers from the northern districts employed at factories in the Gorai industrial area of Mirzapur are also returning home. As a result, passenger numbers and vehicle pressure have increased on the highway.
Visiting the Dewhata and Mirzapur bypass bus stands this morning, a large crowd of passengers was seen heading towards the northern districts. The majority of them were workers.
Sujan Dey, a passenger travelling to Dinajpur, was waiting for a bus on the western side of the Mirzapur bypass bus stand. He said he had been waiting since 6:00 am but had not found a bus even by 7:45 am.
One or two buses stopped, but they were demanding extra fares. He was waiting so he can travel at a lower fare, he said.
Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, general secretary of the Mirzapur municipal unit of the Jatiya Party, posted on Facebook about travel times and excessive fares on the highway.
He wrote, “It took me 11 hours to travel from Dhaka to Mirzapur last night. There were people everywhere on the road. There is no traffic control. Fares are being charged at four times the normal rate. There is no one to see and no one to speak out. We are suffering. Workers are suffering. The people of the country are suffering.”