Post-Eid tailback clogs Dhaka-Tangail Highway
Vehicular movement came to an around 16-hour halt over a 30 kilometre stretch of Dhaka-Tangail Highway till yesterday morning due to heavy traffic, a large number of speed breakers and some vehicles breaking down on the highway.
People who had celebrated Eid in the northern districts and were returning to Dhaka and Highway Police said hundreds of vehicles were stuck in the traffic jam, from Chandra of Gazipur to Karatia of Tangail sadar upazila.
Gorai Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sanowar Hossain said a large number of buses left the northern districts all at once and the traffic jam started around 6:00pm on Friday.
But traffic started moving very slowly around 10:00am yesterday, he added.
Talking to The Daily Star around 2:00pm yesterday, Tangail Superintendent of Police AKM Hafiz Akter said traffic movement had become normal.
He said the traffic jam was created due to a number of vehicles breaking down on the highway.
He feared that there would be severe traffic congestion on the highway at night and so were preparing to deploy additional traffic police to aid vehicular movement.
Highway Police said the traffic jam might have been aided by the presence of a level crossing at Dherua in Mirzapur, 40 km from Karatia.
Moreover there are at least 22 speed breakers from Karatia to Mirzapur upazila of Tangail, a distance of 30 km, they said.
One bus passenger, Jisan Ahmed, returning to Dhaka from Puthia upazila of Rajshahi, said he boarded the bus around 10:30pm on Friday and was supposed to reach Dhaka by 4:30am yesterday.
“Our bus is still stuck at Dherua in Mirzapur,” he told the reporters around 7:00am yesterday, adding that the bus was stranded at Natiapara, Pakulla, Dhalla, Mirzapur and Dherua on the highway.
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