Eid passengers rush for home

As Eid holidays are about to begin home-bound general public surge onto bus terminals, and railway stations. Pindi has started wearing a deserted look as hundreds of thousands of people left for their homes to enjoy the Eid festival vacation with their families.

The inter-district bus terminals also experienced a huge rush of the homebound people and there was severe traffic congestion in areas surrounding the terminals of Soan, Faizabad and Pir Wadahai. The transport operators added extra buses to their regular fleets.

“I reached Pirwadhai Terminal very late. The surge of people onto the bus terminals, railway stations and on board different modes of vehicles caused severe tailbacks on the city roads, mainly in areas around the terminals and stations,” says Matlloob-ul-Hasan, a construction worker.

“We are gearing up for handling the final rush of the homebound people. Rickshaw-pullers as well as wagon drivers, flying coach drivers and taxi drivers are having a heyday from the huge rush of the city people, mostly leaving for their hometown while many of them remained busy doing their last moment shopping that continued till late night,” says Anwar Abbas, a transport worker.

“Traffic congestion from Faizabad to Pirwadhai bus terminal caused immense suffering to people as the nagging congestion forced many like me to go to the terminal on foot carrying the luggage. The traffic police were facing difficulties tackling the situation and many of them were apparently helpless,” says Azhar Kazmi wanting to go to Sargodha.

Another passenger, Qalbe Jawad, says: “Several parts of the city also experienced similar traffic jams. Suffering of the people mounted as the rickshaw-pullers, wagons, Suzukis, flying coaches, buses and taxicabs charged extremely high fares capitalizing on the huge rush. The nagging traffic congestion was also one of the reasons for charging high fares.”

“Reinforced security was marked at bus terminals and Railway Station. Most of the public transport vehicles were jam-packed. The passengers started coming to the terminals at dawn to get some space for the long-journey,” says Dildar Ali intending to go to Multan.

Although many of the train passengers had collected advance tickets with great pain, people who could not collect the tickets thronged the station to head home on board the trains in collusion with the coolies who got them seats inside the compartments. “I found railway counters selling tickets to the people who agreed to travel without reservation,” says Ali Hussaini.

Naqi Naqvi, a Lahore-bound passenger, says, “I have bought a standing ticket at a very high rate.” Several passengers alleged that the bus operators were high charging fares despite the fact that the law enforcement agencies were seen patrolling the bus terminals.