United News of Bangladesh

There were no reports of prolonged traffic congestion on two major highways in Gazipur on Wednesday, offering relief to Eid travellers. From early morning, a heavy flow of homebound vehicles was seen on the Dhaka–Tangail and Dhaka–Mymensingh highways, as people headed towards northern districts to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their families. Despite the increased pressure, traffic movement remained largely normal. However, vehicles moved slowly at key points, including Chandana Chowrasta and other major bus stands, due to a large number of waiting passengers. At Chandara Tri-Mor, long lines of vehicles stretching several kilometres were observed in the morning. Police said the slow movement in the area was mainly caused by passenger boarding on public transport rather than any major traffic disruption. Eid homebound rush sparks fears of gridlock on Sylhet-Dhaka highway Unlike previous years, no significant traffic congestion was reported on the stretch from Nabinagar to Chandara, bringing some relief to commuters. Gazipur Metropolitan Police and district police have deployed additional personnel along the highways. Around 1,000 members of the metropolitan police and 859 members of district police are working to maintain discipline, alongside highway police, industrial police and volunteers, said Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Israil Howlader.  He said authorities are working in coordination with other agencies to ensure safe and comfortable travel. “We have taken strict measures to prevent illegal parking, random passenger boarding and the movement of unauthorised vehicles and factory holidays—especially in the garment sector—have been staggered to ease pressure on highways,”he said. However, many passengers alleged that transport operators are charging higher-than-usual fares for different destinations.

Commuters heading home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha were stuck in monster traffic snarls on the two national highways in Gazipur on Tuesday. Long tailbacks were witnessed on both the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways in Gazipur in the morning due to a mad rush of home-bound people as well as vehicles carrying sacrificial animals amid the devastating second wave of Covid-19. Read: Facing hazards, Eid holidaymakers keep moving out of Dhaka The closure of several garment factories in Gazipur for Eid contributed to the mad rush while the potholed stretches of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway owing to the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project made the situation worse. Moreover, lack of public transport vehicles like buses and launches forced many to hire microbuses, CNG auto-rickshaws and even pickup trucks to reach their destination. A reality check by UNB revealed that all Covid-safety protocols went for a toss as people barely followed social distancing norms, despite law enforcement agencies keeping a strict vigil on the roads. Bangladesh on Monday saw 231 corona-related deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country, amid an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown. The situation is likely to get worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause ahead of Eid holidays, many experts believe. Read: Holidaymakers' torturous journey goes on With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh have already tallied more than 1.1 million infections and 18,000-plus deaths from the pandemic. The country's fatalities have been hovering at roughly 200 for the past two weeks. Also, Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh have reached 99% of the peak, with more than 11,828 new cases reported each day. The highest daily average was reported on July 15. The country recorded 13,321 infections in 24 hours till Monday morning after testing 45,012 samples. Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 230 on July 11 and 13,768 infections the next day. The second wave of the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm the country's health infrastructure. There have been 1,117,310 infections and 18,125 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 29.59% though the death rate remained unchanged at 1.62%, and the recovery rate dropped to 84.25%. Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Khulna 57, Chattogram 43, Rangpur 17, Rajshahi 16, Mymensingh 11, Sylhet eight and Barisal six. So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,908,272 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.