The government holiday for Eid-ul-Azha began on Tuesday, and holidays for other offices started today. Most people have already left Dhaka to celebrate Eid with their families, so the capital's roads are far from busy.

A tour of several roads in the capital at around 11am on Wednesday (28 June) found far less public transport than usual. The occasional bus came by with few passengers, and buses had to wait at one spot for a long time for want of passengers. Other public transport was in the same state. CNG auto-rickshaws, normally in high demand, had so few passengers that many drivers sat idle.

The picture was somewhat different at the bus terminals. Because it was the day before Eid, long-distance transport was busy with passengers and the terminals were crowded with long-distance buses. With little congestion on the roads, these vehicles were able to leave Dhaka largely without trouble. Vehicles carrying sacrificial animals, a familiar sight at Eid-ul-Azha, were seen in large numbers on various roads in Dhaka.

Himel Mahmud, who travelled from Mirpur to Dholaipar, said the roads were largely empty. "I got into a CNG in front of Sony Cinema Hall at Mirpur 1 and didn't hit a single signal. I got to Dholaipar in 20 minutes. I thought I'd be stuck in cattle market traffic, but there was no such problem."

Some congestion formed around the cattle markets but did not last long. Vehicles heading from Shanir Akhra to Jatrabari were in trouble because of the broken road, and some traffic congestion was seen on that stretch.

Sabbir, a helper on a Raida Paribahan bus, said: "We've made one round trip since the morning. There's no traffic, but there are hardly any passengers either. It will be hard to cover today's costs. Let's see if passengers pick up later. If it stays like this, I won't take the bus out tomorrow. If we can't cover costs, what's the point of the effort?"

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.