Dhaka: A 50-kilometre tailback has brought traffic on the Dhaka-bound lane of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway to a virtual standstill, causing suffering to thousands of passengers. The congestion began Friday night and continued until Saturday morning, leaving vehicles and passengers stranded on the highway for hours.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the congestion started in the Ashiar Char area of Narayanganj, where repair work is underway on a bridge. The traffic jam later extended to the Kutumbpur area of Chandina upazila in Cumilla, creating severe traffic disruption.
Mohammad Hossain, a passenger, mentioned that his nephew had a flight from Dhaka at noon on Saturday and they had left for the capital the previous night. 'We got stuck in Daudkandi and waited until morning. Finding no relief, I hired a van to continue towards Dhaka. I don't know whether we will be able to reach the airport in time,' he said.
Mahmud Hasan, a local journalist, recounted getting stuck in Kutumbpur around 4:30 am. 'Initially, I thought the congestion had been caused by a road accident. Later, I called the highway police, who told me about the cause of the traffic jam and asked me to wait until morning,' he said.
Prem Das Roy, Officer-in-Charge of Daudkandi Highway Police Station, explained that one lane of the highway was kept closed from 6 pm Friday to 6 am Saturday for bridge repair work in Narayanganj. 'Both lanes have been reopened in the morning. We hope the situation will return to normal by noon,' he said.