At least 438 people were killed and 1,424 injured in 419 accidents in the road, rail and waterway routes during the Eid-ul-Fitr journey this year.
Jatri Kalyan Samity unveiled a report in this regard at a press conference at Sagar-Runi auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital’s Segunbagicha at 11am on Saturday.
Jatri Kalyan Samity has published a monitoring report on the increase in road accidents, excessive fare collection and passenger harassment like every year on the occasion of Eid.
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Due to the long holiday for this year’s Eid, 20 percent of the people have traveled above the target, said the secretary general of the organization, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury.
24 people were killed and 21 injured in 18 accidents on the railway. Seven people were killed and five others injured in two accidents on waterways. A total of 438 people were killed and 1,424 injured in 419 accidents.
At the same time, in the last Eid-ul-Fitr of 2023, 328 people were killed and 565 injured in 304 road accidents. Compared to the previous year, road accidents increased by 31.25 percent, fatalities by 24.08 percent and injuries by 147.43 percent.
The organization presented this information by observing the road accidents, extra fare collection and passenger harassment during Eid journey as road accidents increase at an alarming rate every year around Eid.
According to the observation of the organization, due to continuous development of the present government in the last 15 years, the speed of vehicles has increased as the condition of the country’s roads and highways is better than before. Due to the free movement of motorcycles on all the roads and highways of the country as well as on the Padma Bridge, 7.5 percent of the total passengers traveled on motorcycles.
Although various regulatory agencies and law enforcement agencies of the government were in the field, the anarchy of charging extra fare and harassment of passengers on the road was extreme. Due to the anarchy of charging extra fare around the Eid, poor people had to go home on the roofs of buses and trains, in open trucks, in freight transport, risking their lives.
Meanwhile, after the long Eid holiday, there was no pressure of passengers in Gulistan, Paltan, Press Club, Shahbagh, Bangla Motor and Karwan Bazar areas of the capital on Saturday. It seems that Eid is still going on in the capital now.