Eid rush at Sadarghat increases

The rush of passengers travelling to their country homes to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr is mounting at the Sadarghat launch terminal with the festival just a few days hence.

The number of passengers was so high on Sunday afternoon that the pontoons had no room for many of them.

All the passenger vessels that left Sadarghat for places in the country’s southern parts in the afternoon carried passengers on rooftops in defiance of a ban.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Joint Director Saiful Haq said no launch was fined on Sunday for keeping ladders to facilitate passengers climbing to the rooftop.

A launch, MV Bhola, was fined Tk 10,000 for a same offence on Saturday.

Haq said: “The passengers are going their village homes without any difficulty.”

BIWTA Transport Inspector Md Solaiman said around 90 launches had left Sadarghat for the southern districts on Saturday and the number was little over 50 until on Sunday evening.

Private launch operator Sundarban Group’s General Manager Abul Kalam Jhantu told bdnews24.com that the rush of passengers was low on Saturday morning but increased ‘greatly’ from noon.

Several passengers said they were being charged fares higher than what had been fixed by the government, an allegation denied by launch operators.

MV Tipu’s Manager Md Faruq Hossain said they had to carry passengers at lower-than-government-fixed fares at normal time. “We can take the government-fixed fares only during Eid,” he said.

Around 170 launches run from Sadarghat to different destinations.