With Bangladesh in the grip of the Eid rush, commuters heading home faced a harrowing time on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway on Thursday. The stretch from Tongi to Chandona intersection of the high-speed corridor witnessed the maximum snarls due to the mad rush rush of vehicles carrying home-bound people ahead of the festival. On the highway across Gazipur district, this UNB correspondent witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic at Bhogra bypass point, Board Bazar, Tongi Bazar and Station Road. Traffic situation on the Dhaka-Tangail highway to Chandra Trimore was the same this morning -- gridlocks and tailbacks at different places of the high-speed corridor. Read: Govt rolls back Jhilmil Flyover project Passengers and motorists claimed it was taking them nearly four hours to reach the Gazipur intersection from the Mohakhali bus terminal. At some places, people had to waiting for hours to get a public transport. Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police (Traffic), said that already steps have been taken to mitigate the sufferings of the home-bound people on the highways in Gazipur. "Extra policemen have been deployed to ensure the security of the commuters as well." Also read: RMG workers’ demo halt traffic on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for 5 hrs  

A 15- kilometre long tailback formed on the west side of Bangabandhu Bridge in Sirajganj as commuters headed home ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr on Friday. Massive traffic jams were witnessed from Bangabandhu Bridge Gorchatbar area to Nalka intersection as a truck broke down at Balukol area of Kamarkhand upazila, said Mosaddek Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bangabandhu Bridge West Police Station. Read: Roads better than ever, BNP lost their way: Obaidul Quader The quick response team of the police rushed to the spot and removed the broken truck and the traffic got normal in the afternoon, he added. The OC also mentioned that about 600 policemen are on duty to reduce traffic congestion on the district highways.

Call it the Eid travel rush at the Barishal ferry terminal, as hundreds of people have begun travelling to their hometowns to celebrate the festival. Some 23 ferries have been anchored at the Barishal terminal since Friday midnight as authorities have started special services for Eid holidays. On Thursday, each of these ferries carried 4,000 passengers from Dhaka to Barishal, according to the terminal authorities. Also read: Smoke in Barishal-bound launch creates panic among passengers According to the authorities, Rajarhat B was the first vessel to reach Barishal from the capital's Sadarghat around 1am, followed by Royal Cruise, Pubali 7, Farhan 7, Manami, Red Sun, Parbat 10, Prince Awlad 10, Kuakata 2, Sundarban 11 and Surovi 8.

Three flyovers from Joydebpur to Alenga to Hatikumrul will be opened for traffic on Monday to control the rush on the roads ahead of Eid, according to Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary Md Nazrul Islam. “I went to inspect these in person yesterday. Opening these three flyovers will solve the traffic problem a lot,” he said. He also hoped that the homebound people will not suffer during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. Also read: Eid holidaymakers likely to face tough journey on Dhaka-Paturia highway The secretary said this in a response to a question from reporters at the handing over ceremony of the first phase check of Dhaka Bypass Expressway under construction in a private-public partnership at the Secretariat on Sunday. Nowjor, Safipur and Gorai - these three flyovers are opening tomorrow, informed the secretary.

At least 242 people have lost their lives in 201 road accidents during Eid rushes while 331 others were injured.