The Eid journey of holidaymakers will be hassle-free and comfortable this time if the long spell of the Eid-ul-Fitr’s vacation can be utilised properly to address the severe crisis of public transport, observed speakers.
Speaking at a discussion titled ‘Ways to overcome concerns of highway robberies, mugging and road accidents during Eid journey,’ organised by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) at the CRAB auditorium at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Monday.
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Representatives from Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, BRTA, Highway Police, civil society and student representatives attended the discussion.
Stressing the importance of properly managing the extended Eid holidays, the organisation’s Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said around 15 million people would be traveling from Dhaka and surrounding districts to their hometowns during Eid, while an additional 30 to 35 million people would be commuting between different districts nationwide.
Around 75% of these travellers would use road transport, 17% waterways, and 8% railways.
To minimise travel difficulties, he called for a coordinated effort to prevent passenger harassment, overcharging of fares and incidents of highway robbery, mugging and road accidents.
According to the BJKS’s data, 399 road accidents occurred during last year’s Eid-ul-Fitr, resulting in 407 deaths and 1,398 injuries.
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Over the past nine years, Eid-ul-Fitr alone has witnessed 2,377 accidents, claiming 2,714 lives and injuring 7,420 people.
The association urged intervention from transport owners’ associations, workers’ federations, police, and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to prevent similar incidents this year.
Focusing on safety concerns in the railway sector, speakers noted that 83% of coaches and 60% of locomotives were outdated, while 82% of railway crossings remained unprotected, increasing the risk of derailments and accidents, demanding strict action against black-market ticket sales and passenger harassment.
Besides, the association called for measures to curb excessive fare collection, passenger harassment at ports, and exploitation by private leaseholders in ferry terminals.
Mohammad Saiful Alam, secretary general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, blamed mismanagement and planning flaws for the rising travel chaos and road accidents, assuring of strict measures to prevent overcharging during Eid travel.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation President Abdur Rahim Box Dudu urged the authorities to regulate battery-operated three-wheelers and motorcycles, emphasising the need for stricter control to ensure road safety.
He also vowed that the workers’ federation would stand by passengers and address complaints promptly.
BRTA Director Mohammad Shahidullah said that BRTA would enforce strict measures against unfit vehicles and deploy vigilance teams in all 64 districts to monitor fare violations.
He emphasised that collaboration among passengers, transport owners, workers’ unions, and law enforcement agencies would ensure a safe and smooth Eid journey.
Highway Police DIG (Operations) Md Shafiqul Islam revealed that authorities identified 1,443 people involved in highway robberies and launched operations against them.
He informed that 340 operation teams remain deployed across 3,900 kilometers of national highways, urging passengers to keep the highway police hotline handy, assuring a response within 15 minutes.
The DIG also encouraged expatriates traveling home with luggage to seek assistance from highway police for added security.
Some key recommendations include strict enforcement against unfit vehicles during Eid travel, mandatory high-quality helmets and protective gear for motorcycle passengers and restrictions on carrying luggage on highways, inclusion of Passenger Welfare Association representatives in vigilance teams monitoring fare anomalies, eviction of unauthorised slow-moving vehicles from national highways ten days before Eid to reduce congestion and accidents.
The recommendations also include deployment of additional personnel at highway toll plazas to prevent artificial traffic jams, pre-Eid highway patrolling by police and intelligence agencies to prevent robberies and muggings, replacing on-spot vehicle document checks, activation of intelligence agencies to curb passenger harassment, drugging gangs and black-market ticket sales.
Speakers at the discussion included former Election Commission Secretary Dr Muhammad Zakaria, women's rights activist and Principal of Dhaka Ispahani College Rafika Afroz, BJKS Publicity Secretary Mahmudul Hasan Russel, and student representative Rezaul Islam were, among others, present at the discussion.