<i>Homebound passengers suffer for tailback, ferry disruption</i>
A staggering 40-kilometre gridlock from Kaliakoir to Mirzapur on Dhaka-Tangail highway causes immense sufferings to homebound people ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha. The photo was taken from Hatubhanga in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail district yesterday morning. Photo: STAR
Severe gridlock on the busy Dhaka-Tangail highway amid the Eid-ul-Azha rush caused immense sufferings to thousands of people from early hours on Friday to yesterday noon. Hundreds of vehicles were seen stationary including buses with thousands of people and cattle-laden trucks bound for Dhaka in a 40km tailback stretching from Kaliakoir of Gazipur to Mirzapur of Tangail. Sources in highway police said the narrow highway couldn't accommodate the additional traffic that exceeded the average 10,000 vehicles that ply normally this highway every day. Moreover, as Eid-ul-Azha is approaching, hundreds of sacrificial animal laden trucks from the northern districts started plying the highway that caused the gridlock, they said. Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of police (SP) of Tangail, told The Daily Star that besides the additional pressure of vehicles, two accidents with seven broken down cattle-laden trucks at places on the highway were also behind the gridlock. " The highway became normal after 1:00pm yesterday. District police led by its senior officers are trying hard to keep vehicular movements on the busy highway normal," the SP added. Ferry service disruptedA Correspondent from Madaripur reports: Homebound passengers had to suffer for more than 10 hours as ferry service came to a halt after a ferry got stuck in a submerged shoal of Mawa-Kaorakandi route. BIWTA and BIWTC sources said, K type ferry Kakoli, which left Mawa at 6:00 pm Friday, got stuck up at Kauniarchar in the running channel with 20 vehicles on board. There were more than 400 homebound passengers on the ferry. As the ferry failed to move in the narrow channel the authorities suspended all ferry services on the route. Most of the passengers had to count extra money to cross the channel by different river vessels and to reach their destinations by microbus and bus from Kaorakandi.
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