Less traffic flow at Paturia, highway also free

After a mad rush for the last couple of days centring the Eid, Paturia ferry ghat has been witnessing less traffic flow since Thursday morning -- on the eve of the biggest religious festival of Muslims.

With the long-haul public buses suspended to curb coronavirus spread, private cars had been accounting for a large portion of the vehicles waiting in long queues to cross the river.

As the rush of southern district-bound cars lessened on Thursday morning, ferries now were carrying goods-laden trucks and Eid holidaymakers to their ancestral villages.            

There was no traffic congestion also on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, and homebound passengers -- who left the capital just a day before the Eid -- were going home very smoothly.

The 35-kilometre gridlock-prone stretch of the highway in Manikganj district was also free since Thursday morning.    

At Nayadingi area of the highway, bus driver Zahid Mia said there was no rush of homebound people since morning. He was picking up passengers with extra fare than the usual.

But the driver said he had to wait for a long time at Nabinagar area of the highway to get enough passengers to set off for the ferry terminal.    

Zillur Rahman, deputy general manager of the ferry ghat, said there are 17 ferries on the Paturia-Daulatdia route. But several ferries were sitting idle due to lack of vehicles and passengers.

The homegoing picture was also the same on the Aricha-Kazirhat route. There are four big and small ferries.

The ghat area was almost empty Thursday, though there was severe homegoing pressure at the terminal for the past few days. Passengers at the ghat area were going home quite easily.

Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Golra Highway Police Station, said the traffic congestion on Dhaka-Aricha highway has eased since Thursday morning. There were more cars than buses on the route, but the situation was completely under control.