'Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samitiy' (BJKS), a passenger welfare platform, on Wednesday demanded extension of the Eid holidays by two days to reduce the sufferings of passengers on the roads and prevent road accidents during the upcoming Eid.
BJKS Secretary General Md. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made the demand to make the Eid trip safe and hassle-free at a press conference organised at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
According to the observation of the platform, 16 million people, including one crore people from Dhaka, 40 lakh from Gazipur district, 12 lakh from Narayanganj district, and other surrounding districts will travel to different districts of the country during this Eid.
In the four days before Eid, 3 million passengers can travel by bus-minibus, 0.4 million by train, 3.5 million by private car, jeep and
microbus, 1.2 million by motorcycle, 6.0 million by launch, and about 1 million by air.
Due to the inadequate public transport and the anarchy of overcharging, 1.8 lakh passengers may travel on the roofs of buses, trains and open trucks and freight transport, said the leaders of BJKS.
Also, about 4 to 5 crore passengers will travel inter-district. For this, from April 5 to April 14, there may be an additional 60 million trip passengers in different types of transport in the country due to various reasons including travel to Eid Bazar, village home.
For this reason, it is feared that if proper use of public transport is not ensured, there may be hellish situation in this year's Eid journey.
They said on April 9 and 10, 60 to 70 lakh people will leave the capital every day but public transport has the capacity to carry 22 to 25 lakh people.
In such a situation, if the holiday is not extended before Eid, the traffic situation on all the roads of the country may get worse. Therefore, if the Eid holidays are extended by 2 days on 8 and 9 April, everyone will get a chance to go home in phases from 05 April.
In the written statement, Mozammel said that there might be traffic jams in 714 spots in the country this Eid. Out of which 140 spots need close monitoring, he said.
Police and various intelligence agencies have alerted the government about 218 high-risk accident spots on 10 national and regional highways.