25km tailback cripples Dhaka -Ctg highway

Hundreds of passengers were stuck in a 25-kilometre tailback on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway yesterday.

The tailback that ensued Tuesday night, following two road accidents in Munshiganj and Daudkandi on the vital highway, continued till the filing of this report at 9:00pm last night.

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This correspondent, who travelled from Comilla to Daudkandi yesterday, reported that the gridlock intensified further because of the slow pace of toll collection at Meghna Bridge.

Abul Kalam Azad, officer-in-charge of Daudkandi Highway Police Station, said the tailback stretched from Meghna-Gomti Bridge in Daudkandi to Madanpur in Narayanganj.

Al Amin, a driver of a Papia Paribahan bus that plies on the Comilla-Daudkandi route, said he started the bus from Comilla at 1:00pm and managed to travel only 40 killometres in four hours.

Normally, it usually takes two hours or less for the same distance, he added.

Another driver, Kasem Ali of Ekusey Paribahan, said he had been stuck near the Daudkandi bridge area for three hours on his way to Dhaka from Comilla.

The movement of vehicles slowed down when entering the two-lane bridges from the four-lane highway and it is one of the major reasons for the long tailback, the OC observed.

Police were trying to ease the congestion, he added.

Several bus drivers said the increasing number of goods carrying vehicles on the highway ahead of Eid-ul-Azha and the long time taken for toll collection on the Daudkandi and Meghna Bridge are other reasons for the tailback.

“It takes 20 to 25 minutes for a goods carrying truck or lorry to complete the formality of giving the toll on the two bridges which creates a tailback. It takes more time when the toll authority and driver lock horns over charging fines related to overloading,” a driver of Hanif Paribahan said.

Several other drivers also blamed the slow pace of toll collection at the two bridges and the Eid rush for the overloaded highways.

While visiting the areas, it was seen that hundreds of vehicles remained stuck on the highway, causing immense sufferings to passengers.

“I had to walk six kilometres from Amirabad to Shahidnagar,” said Mr Meing, a Chinese national with business interests in Comilla.