Savar, Nov 26 (bdnews24.com) – Chaos on main routes out of the capital, including severe bottlenecks at Chandra and Jamuna Bridge and garment worker protests at Savar and Mirpur, hit millions of home bound holidaymakers on Thursday ahead of Eid.

Buses bound for north Bengal were delayed by up to eight hours in their departure from the city on Thursday, the last working day ahead of Eid on the 28th.

Reports from the bus terminal said the situation continued past midnight into the early hours of Friday.

Bus authorities said they were unable to take buses out of the terminal because of acute traffic tailbacks at Chandra intersection out of the city and at the Jamuna Bridge toll lanes. As a result, thousands of people, bound for home to celebrate the holiday with families, suffered setbacks.

Most of the buses for north Bengal depart from Gabtali in the capital, which was a dismal picture on Thursday with hundreds of families, including children, waiting helplessly for delayed buses to set off.

Hasan, a north-bound passenger, said his bus meant leave in the morning was finally leaving the terminal at 5pm.

A Rangpur passenger said his bus due to depart at noon had still not left the terminal at 7pm.

Hanif Enterprise manager Balai Das told bdnews24.com the usual bottleneck was created at Chandra due to lack of traffic management there.

"Also toll collection at Jamuna Bridge today was very slow," said Das. As a result, traffic tailbacks stretched for tens of kilometres, he said.

He also said the roads were filled with trucks carrying sacrificial animals for the Eid-ul-Azha, on the last working day ahead of the holiday, while the majority of people were anxious to leave the city Thursday to reach home two days ahead of Eid.

"Departures of buses are seriously delayed because of all these factors," he said.

Thousands of desperate home bound passengers continued their arduous wait at Gabtoli past midnight.

Riots too

Earlier in the day, workers of three ready made garments factories, belonging to the BGMEA president, besieged the Dhaka-Aricha highway, claiming late payment of salaries and Eid allowances, causing holiday traffic to mount on one of the major arteries out of the capital.

The workers of Envoy Fashions Ltd, Envoy Designs Ltd and Manta Apparel Ltd, all of the Envoy Group, ransacked the three factory premises, dragging out equipment including computers and furniture to set fire to them on the road, said witnesses.

Hundreds of vehicles on both sides of the highway came to a halt, while riot police were forced to take position in front of all three factories.

Police said workers continued their blockade for over five hours from 3pm.

Workers of a garments factory in Mirpur also demonstrated on Thursday, blocking Mazar Road.

Over 150 workers of Emco Fashion Ltd hurled brickbats, broke the factory windows and blocked traffic from 4.30pm to 6pm.

Officer-in-charge of Mirpur police station Zakir Hossain Mollah told bdnews24.com that the workers took to streets for two months' dues and Eid bonuses.

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