As it was the last working day for private employees, the rush of homebound people reached its peak at noon as people were seen desperate to go home to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones at their native villages just a day later.
However, the bustling capital city is gradually getting quieter as tens of thousands holidaymakers have already left the city.
Kamalapur Railway Station, major bus terminals and Sadarghat Ferry Terminal were seen teeming with home-goers who were waiting for hours together to catch transports to reach their destinations.
The eid holidaymakers of the northern and southwestern districts had to go through serious ordeals for long traffic jams on Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail like the previous days.
However, there was no report of traffic jams on Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka Sylhet highways.
But there is no letup in train schedule collapse causing immense sufferings to passengers, particularly the northwestern district-bound ones, at Kamalapur Railway Station.
Amid the failure to run the train in time, the railway authorities were forced to reschedule the departure time of several trains from the Kamalapur station.
Most buses from Sayedabad were leaving the terminal almost in time, but passengers were forced to wait in counters at Gabtoli and Mohakhali terminals for hours together as the designated buses failed to return to Dhaka as those were stuck at Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdi ferry terminals and in tailbacks on the highways.
UNB Tangail correspondent reports, a 75-km tailback was created on Dhaka-Tangail highway on Saturday morning, inflicting sufferings on thousands of Eid holidaymakers.
The gridlock was created from Gorai in Mirzapur upazila to Bangabandhu Bridge due to heavy pressure of vehicles, said police super Sanjib Kumar Biswas.
Members of law enforcement agencies and volunteers have been working on the highway to ease the gridlock, Sanjib Kumar said.
UNB Gazipur correspondent says: Vehicles were seen moving slowly on Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway since Saturday morning due to heavy outflow of vehicles from the capital.
The home-goers also suffered at Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdi to cross the two ferry terminals as vehicles were stuck in a long tailback.
Disruption in the schedules of a number of trains, particularly of those that run on northern and southern routes, caused havoc on Eid holidaymakers like the previous days.
Train passengers said none of the northern district-bound trains left Kamalapur Railway Station as per their schedules.
Resho Banik, officer-in-charge of Kamalapur Railway Station, said Chattogram and Sylhet-bound trains left the stations as per schedules but the northern and southern districts-bound trains fell behind their schedules due to slow movement of trains over Bangabandhu Bridge.
‘Dhumketu Express’ left the station six hours later than the scheduled time while ‘Sundarban Express’ was late by five hours, ‘Nilsagar Express’ and ‘Rangpur Express’ trains by eight hours and ‘Lalmonirhat Express’ (special) by 10 hours.
The platform of the station is abuzz with homebound people as they were seen waiting there for hours together amid hot and humid weather.
Meanwhile, many people were seen travelling on the rooftops of trains, putting their lives at risk.