Staff Correspondent:

After an extensive 10-day public holiday for Eid-ul-Azha, government offices, banks, and financial institutions across Bangladesh are set to reopen on Sunday as holidaymakers stream back into Dhaka, clogging highways leading into the capital.

Zubaida Urmi, an NGO worker, had travelled to her in-laws’ home in Rangpur to celebrate Eid. While her journey there was relatively smooth, the return trip has been a different story.

On Saturday, the final day of the holiday, she described a frustrating ordeal: despite boarding a bus from Rangpur at 9:30pm on Friday, she had yet to cross the Jamuna River more than 12 hours later.

It took nearly six hours just to reach Bogura from Rangpur, she said.

Farhad Sardar, a passenger travelling by launch from Chandpur to Dhaka aboard the MV Roff Roff, said the vessel was completely packed.

“I went home for Eid, and I have work on Sunday. The launch started more or less on time, but it’s absolutely full. Since it’s the last day of the holiday, everyone’s on the move.”

As the holiday drew to a close, public transport on roads, waterways and railways intensified on Saturday.

Many had reported a smoother experience heading out of Dhaka before the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays this year, due to staggered departure times. But the Eid-ul-Azha break began and ended at the same time for most, leaving outbound journeys particularly fraught.

Kamrul Hasan, from Mudaffarganj in Cumilla, said his journey to his hometown this Eid had been far more difficult than during Eid-ul-Fitr.

“I work in Dhaka. During Eid-ul-Fitr, people left at different times because of staggered holidays, so the pressure was manageable. But this time, everyone was travelling around the same time. I couldn’t find a direct bus — I had to change vehicles multiple times to get home. Still, you can’t not go home for Eid,” he said.

Eid-ul-Azha was observed on Jun 7. The government declared a 10-day holiday from Jun 5-14, with most banks, NGOs and private companies following suit.

Alongside the reopening of the Secretariat and government offices, banks and the Dhaka Stock Exchange will resume operations on Sunday.

However, some banking services remained available on a limited scale in livestock market areas and garment industry hubs up until the eve of Eid.