Dhaka quiets down as Eid holiday begins

With eight million people off the town, Dhaka is in a serene state now with an evident holiday mood prevailing all around.

Fewer buses were seen plying the almost empty streets of Dhaka on Sunday, the first day of the three-day official vacation declared for Eid-Ul-Fitr.

The capital, with a population of more than 1.5 million, otherwise remains crammed and noisy. The air remains heavy with people who cluster here from all over the country in search of work, education, for business purposes and sometimes for better healthcare.

Bus terminals -- Gabtoli and Mohakhali -- hardly saw any customer.

Golam Mostafa, a counter manager at Mohakhali Bus Terminal, said: “The homebound revellers have already left.”

Ena Paribahan, which operates on the Dhaka-Mymensingh route, dealt with a thicker crowd, as buses were behind schedule following traffic jams reported from different points of the highway.

Sadarghat Ferry Terminal handled crowds for up to three hours since dawn. Some launches set off in the evening.

Packed trains were seen leaving the Kamalapur Railway Station on the last day of Eid journeys.

Those who stayed back, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief to have a quiet Dhaka.

“No struggling for buses, no traffic congestion. Going from one place to another takes less time,” said Sohel Haider, a resident of Mirpur who is set to celebrate the Eid with family in Dhaka.

“You get to ride rickshaws on all the streets. It feels great to take a tour of the city during this time,” said the gleeful man.

Sadia Islam, a resident of Dhanmondi, went to visit her sister in Uttara on Sunday to have a comfortable journey which otherwise is hard to make throughout the year.

“Usually I avoid coming to this zone because of the terrible traffic jams but today it took only 25 minutes to reach here from Dhanmondi,” she told bdnews24.com.

A bank official, Shahadat Hossain, however, pointed out some drawbacks of the situation.

“It is difficult to get transports as fewer buses are on the roads. Autorickshaw drivers charge high fares,” said Hossain.