Dhaka: Thousands of people have begun to leave Dhaka for their village homes ahead of Eid, ignoring the risks of contracting coronavirus and spreading it to many others.

There were so many people on the ferries on the Padma yesterday that the authorities, in a bid to prevent crowding, suspended the services on Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdia routes for hours.

In the absence of public transport because of the ongoing shutdown, the holiday-makers travelled by pickups, motorcycles and battery-run three wheelers. Many had to spend two to three times the usual fare.

The Dhaka-Chattogram highway witnessed a 25-km tailback in Daudkandi, caused mainly by thousands of cars leaving Dhaka.

The Covid-19 outbreak had hit Dhaka and its adjacent areas the hardest in the country. Experts said this rush of thousands of people will further spread the deadly virus and delay the reopening process.

After observing the crowds that have been getting bigger for the last few days, the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity in a statement yesterday urged the government to announce a 10-day curfew around the Eid to slow the spread of the outbreak.

Around three crore people used to leave Dhaka and other major cities ahead of Eid, it said. And many people have started leaving the cities for their hometowns this week.

The shutdown began on March 26 and the government later extended it six times. Before May 30, most of the private and public offices will not reopen and transport services will not resume.

In a circular on May 14, the cabinet division said movement of people will be restricted from May 17-May 28 across the country. The circular also said that no one would be allowed to leave the city where they work. The local administration and law enforcers were supposed to enforce the restrictions during the period.

Police on Sunday stepped up measures to restrict the movement of people. They set up check posts across the country to prevent people from travelling from one district to another during Eid unless there is an emergency.

But the number of people leaving Dhaka increased yesterday.

Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on May 24 or 25, subject to the sighting of the moon.

CROWDING AT FERRY TERMINALS

The number of people leaving Dhaka has been increasing since Friday, a day after the government announced the extension of the Eid holidays.

Ferry operators on the Shimulia-Kathalbari route said they have been transporting several thousand people across the Padma every day this week.

The authorities reduced the number of ferries from 14 to just four early yesterday to prevent crowding. But from 6:00am to 10:00am, the operators had to carry only people across the river, because there was no room for vehicles, said an employee.

As the day progressed and the crowd became larger, the authorities suspended the services around 3:00pm.

The services did not resume as of 9:00pm.

Ferry terminal staffers said there were thousands of people there.