Dhaka Medical College Hospital intern Ashik Talukder was waiting at Kalyanpur to catch a Shyamoli Paribahan bus to Naogaon on Thursday.
He had bought the ticket of the bus, scheduled to leave at 3:30pm, to celebrate the Eid-ul-Azha with his family back home.
But the disappointment was clear on his face at 5:30pm as the bus was yet to arrive.
“Even the 3pm bus has not arrived yet. I don’t know when my bus will be here.”
Ashik said the officials of the transport operator were blaming traffic congestions on the highways for the delay.
The bus services from Dhaka to the northern and south-western districts have their main counters at Gabtoli Bus Terminal, but most of the buses depart from Kalyanpur.
Things were no different at Sayedabad Bus Terminal at the other end of the capital. The buses bound for Chittagong, Sylhet and other north-eastern districts leave from this terminal.
Passenger Md Kamal Hossain was still waiting at 11pm for a 9:30pm Feni-bound bus of Star Line Paribahan.
“The children are suffering the most under the blazing sun,” he said.
The holidaymakers like Ashik and Kamal who bought advance bus tickets have been waiting at the terminals for hours on the opening day of the Eid journeys since morning.
Hundreds of thousands of others rushed to the bus terminals, launch piers and railway stations after the office hours as weekly holidays of Friday and Saturday will extend the Eid holidays.
There is no accepted figure, but an estimated five million out of 15 million citizens of Dhaka leave the capital during the Eid for celebrations with their families and relatives in towns and villages.
There was no report of run-down highways this year, but gridlocks have not eased.
The closure of most of the ferry piers at Daultadia due to river erosion has been blamed for the traffic congestions towards the northern districts.
Finding no such disturbance towards the southeast???, the passengers blamed the traffic congestions on the four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong Highway on the police.
They alleged the law enforcers were stopping cattle-laden trucks for extortion, thereby causing the snarls.
