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The journey home by Eid vacationers from the capital city to different districts including the outlying ones during this Eid-ul-Fitr was admittedly safer and smoother compared to previous years', so far as the reports go. And for this success thanks are due to the authorities of the railway, the road transport and the waterways. The law-enforcement authorities, despite their shortage of manpower, did, reportedly, try to make the most of their resources and efforts. That is no doubt commendable.
However, the responsibilities of the different government agencies concerned do not end with arranging comparatively trouble-free departure of the Eid-vacationers from the capital city. Questions arise, if the preparations are equally efficient to ensure hassle-free and safe return of the incoming waves of the Eid vacationers to the city. True, all the attention was focused on managing the outflow of about 20 million Eid vacationers leaving the capital as the Eid holidays begun. Now that all those vacationers have begun to return, though not with such intensity as it was during the exodus, it is still expected that the government agencies concerned are still maintaining their preparedness as before to ensure their smooth and safe return.
Most important issue for Eid travellers whether homebound or on return journey is safety. And the issue of safety involves safety from road accidents as well as personal safety and security of valuable belongings of Eid travellers both on the highways and waterways. Of late, travellers are being exposed to both kinds of hazards with increasing frequency. So far as road mishaps are concerned, the Road Safety Foundation, an advocacy and research body on road safety, some 544 persons were killed in 383 road accidents across the country in February this year. And of the fatalities, 206, which is close to 38 per cent of the total number of deaths, were from motorcycle accidents. Clearly, motorcycles are increasingly becoming major sources of accident-related casualties both on the national highways and regional roads. And to this has recently been added the hazards due to chaotic movement of battery-run rickshaws. It goes without saying that both rash motorbike driving and these battery-powered contraptions pose life-threatening hazards to their passengers.
So, the law-enforcement authorities need to strictly monitor the movement of the motorbikes on the highways and regional roads to reduce the number and frequency of fatal accidents. At the same time, the highway and regional roads should be closed to battery-run rickshaws. However, the measures to control movement of these risky vehicles are not specific to the safety of Eid travellers alone. In fact, there is no scope to think that bigger transports like buses on the roads and launches on the river routes are any better in terms of their propensity for accidents.
The law enforcers and the transport authorities would therefore be required to consider the safety issues for all kinds of road and waterway transports with equal emphasis. Speaking of safety issues involving robbery, there has been a surge in highway robbery recently. According to police data, between August 2024 and January this year, 1,145 of such robbery cases were filed. These apart, in recent months both daytime and nighttime robberies in long-distance buses to and from Dhaka saw a sudden spike. In many cases, the passengers were subjected to physical injuries, even deaths. In that case, the highway police will have to work extra hours to ensure that Eid vacationers can feel safe even during their return to work after enjoying their holidays at country homes. Reports on mishap of either kind are yet to reach the news desks of the print, electronic and the online media. One would, still like to hope that the Eid vacationers' return will also be safe this time.
Happy return of Eid vacationers.