Pandemic Cuts Numbers Heading Home for Eid Holidays

The Covid-19 pandemic confronted the planet with some unforeseen circumstances and brought in some almost unimaginable improvements in people's lives. Similarly, people have been pushed to reconsider some of the traditional, predetermined forms of doing practices; practices that we might take for granted just six months ago do not withstand today's scrutiny in a different light.

The inevitable, mad rush of home-bound people leaving their adopted city to go home to their families for the Eid holidays is a fixture of the calendar every year, twice. But the Pandemic Year naturally prompted others to reconsider their normal holiday plans, reports UNB.

While there are no reliable figures available to measure the specific numbers of the exodus each time, in recent years the figure has been calculated somewhere from 5-8 million by law enforcement officials from an entry/exit point view.

Eid-ul-Azha, the second biggest Muslim holy holiday, will be observed in the world on the 1st of August (tomorrow).

Overshadowed by the Coronavirus, it's all modified this year. There was an evacuation, but it was a very sad one, when a significant number of lower-middle-class residents, mainly internal workers, and day laborers, were forced to flee the costly city as the shutdown to combat the epidemic wiped away much of their work prospects.

For those who remain, making the journey home is now viewed not just as a risk but a hassle, what with the need to remain vigilant about maintaining social distancing and other health guidelines. Moreover, people hailing from around 31 districts have also been forced to abandon any plans of going home due to the floods.

Despite all glitches, the passengers who chose to leave the city were seen carrying personal hand sanitizers and wearing face masks at major bus terminals on Thursday.

After visiting Gabtoli bus terminal, UNB correspondent found very few commuters compared to previous years while prices of bus tickets were on fire as bus authorities were maintaining “two seats per passenger” to allow for social distancing as per the government directive.

Md Shovo, a counter master of Hanif Enterprise, of Gabtoli bus terminal, said “Though we have to carry passengers almost less than half of the capacity, the numbers of homebound passengers are also not satisfactory.”

Sohanur Rahman, countermaster of Diganta Paribahan, hoped that the amount of home-bound citizens will increase at midnight and continue to grow until Friday night.

In the meantime, a number of motorbike riders were seen transporting passengers to the ghat of Aricha-Paturia.

Unlike the Gabtoli bus terminal, the same situation was observed in the Saidabad and Mohakhali inter-district bus terminals.

Opposite picture was seen at the Sadarghat Launch airport, where every launch was seen crowded with passengers on Thursday night.

This year, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) took the initiative to offer all of its tickets digitally via its smartphone device and website. Yet, contrary to previous years, there was no rush of passengers to Kamalapur Railway Station.