Key ministries asked to open control rooms for emergency services as 9-day Eid holidays begin today
People started to stream out of the capital and other cities on Thursday by overloaded buses, trains and launches to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones as nine-day public holidays would begin today.
The bus and launch terminals and the railway stations became crowded with men, women and children waiting to board the transports to reach their homes.
The government on Thursday asked key ministries and field administrations to be vigilant round the clock in tackling ‘any untoward situation’ anywhere in the country during the nine-day Eid holidays beginning today.
On Thursday, huge people rushed to the capital’s Gabtoli terminal for journey to northern and southern parts of the country.
The home goers alleged that they had to pay extra to buy tickets.
As most of the advance tickets had been sold out weeks ago, some people were being forced to buy tickets for sitting on the covers of bus engines.
A government official, who came to the terminal directly from office, said he had to pay Tk 580 for a bus ticket for journey to Satkhira though its price was Tk 300.
University student Raihana said that she bought a ticket by Tk 650 from Hanif Enterprise though the original price was Tk 480.
Passengers were also availing buses from Saidabad and Mohakhali inter-district bus terminals, trains from Dhaka and Chittagong and other railway junctions, and launches from Dhaka river port.
The rush of home goers would reach to peak from July 4, the last working day of private companies and
apparel factories, said transport owners.
The Cabinet Division asked home ministry, roads and highways division, railway ministry, disaster management and relief ministry and shipping ministry to open control rooms at the ministries to monitor the situation 24 hours as all public offices would remain closed from July 1 to July 9 due to Eid-ul-Fitr and weekends.
‘We have already asked the ministries concerned to open control rooms so that they could respond quickly in case of any emergency during the Eid holidays,’ cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told New Age on Thursday.
He said, anything might happen anytime during the long holiday as most people would leave Dhaka city to celebrate the Eid with their relations in villages.
Officials at district and upazila-levels would be able to remain in touch with the higher authorities through the control rooms that would be kept open round the clock, he said.
The local administrations and the police were asked to take additional measures at ferry terminals and bus terminals to maintain order during the rush hours, Shafiul said.
The cabinet secretary said that all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners were asked not to leave their stations during the holidays.
Executive magistrates and police would remain on duty throughout the holidays as home goers started leaving the capital and other cities for remote villages from Thursday, he said.
The Cabinet Division directives came a day after the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday asked all service-related organisations including those responsible for health, law and order and transports to take special steps so that day-to-day life of the people was not affected during the Eid holidays.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh personnel would be deployed besides police, Rapid Action Battalion and Ansars if necessary to maintain order during the holidays.
The three-day Eid holiday virtually turned into a nine-day holiday, from July 1 to July 9, for public servants, as the government last week announced July 4, the only working day before Eid-ul-Fitr, as a public holiday for this year.
The Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals for Muslims, is likely to be celebrated either on July 6 or 7 depending on the sighting of the moon.
Source: New Age
