People headed for the capital after Eid holidays continued to suffer on road because of disruption in train service and shortage of tickets for long-route buses.
People of Rajshahi, Chapainababganj, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Gaibandha alleged that they had been face the problems for the past two days as they failed to get tickets for travel to Dhaka.
Traffic congestion on highways, however, decreased compared with what it had been for a couple of days although hundreds of long-distance buses, trucks and other vehicles waited in queues for hours to cross the River Padma at Kaorakandi and Dauladia ferry points till Saturday night.
People were in a mad rush to reach Dhaka as offices and educational institutions would begin running in full swing from the next week.
Mita Naahr, who reached Dhaka from Chittagong by train on Sunday complained that the train was delayed at every station and reached Dhaka an hour and a half behind the schedule.
A GRP station officer-in-charge, Md Abdul Maid, told New Age the the Silk City Express was running late by four hours, the Lalmonirhat Express, the Padma Express and other express trains from Khulna were late by by three to four hours. ‘All trains had been behind the schedule by three to four hours till till Sunday.’
The New Age correspondent in Chapainababganj said that about a hundred buses leave the Mahananda terminal every day but because of rush on the road, only 20-25 buses left Chapainababganj till night on Saturday.
The correspondent in Bogra said that congestion had eased on highways but trains were still running late by an hour or two.
The Bangladesh Inland Waterway (Passenger Carriers) Association secretary Md Siddiqur Rahman Patwary told New Age that till Sunday all launches had been late by an hour or two.
Md Jaker, at the counter of Shyamoli Paribahan in Dhaka, told New Age that after midnight past Saturday, pressure eased on highways but people suffered immensely for ticket shortage.
He said that people of districts such as Rajshahi, Chapainababganj, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Gaibandha faced ticket shortage for travel to Dhaka.
People were hurrying to reach Dhaka as they feared that Jamaat might enforce general strike again, Jaker said.