On Saturday, Selim Haldar and his family travelled about 125 kilometres from Shariatpur to Dhaka. But they had to walk at least 40 km with luggage to reach his Tejkunipara house in the city. Even his five-year-old son walked about 25 km, Selim told Star City.

Selim said they reached Mawa by trawler and reached Nimtoli from Mawa by rickshaw. Then they walked to Buriganga Bridge at Babubazar in Dhaka. From Babubazar, they got a rickshaw but had to leave it near Gulistan.

The journey took 12 hours more than usual, Selim said. "On the way we saw violent clashes between the pro-government and opposition backed activists." Every time the family faced a mob of political zealots they prayed.

"I pray for peace in my country, this kind of situation is unacceptable," Selim said.

Abonti Nurul, staff lawyer of Ain O Salish Kendra, left Dhaka to celebrate Eid with her parents at Nilphamari and became stranded there for the political unrest. She called to The Daily Star several times to know when transport will be available.

She told Star City over telephone that she had bought bus tickets for October 28 but no inter-district bus left for Dhaka from her area on that day. Now she does not know when she will be able to reach Dhaka and join office.

Golam Murshid Pintu, assistant secretary of Bangladesh Bus, Truck Owners Association, said he himself got stranded at Kurigram and waiting for resumption of bus service between Kurigram and Dhaka that was stopped due to political unrest.

When asked about the transport problem, GM Siraj, chairman of Bangladesh Bus, Truck Owners Association, said the bus owners are in big trouble due to the unrest. He said the bus companies had sold advance tickets for next 10 days and now they cannot carry the passengers, which created a backlog in ticket management.

Ashok Kumar, station manager of Kamalapur Railway Station, said the railway authorities had to cancel scheduled trips and return price of tickets to the passengers for the ongoing political situation. An official of the railway said some trains started for their destinations but were stopped at different stations by the political activists.

Badiuzzaman Badal, senior vice chairman of Bangladesh Inland Waterways Passenger Carriers Association, said that water transport owners did not cancelled any trip but under the present circumstances, passengers are not available.

He said the owners sought security from the administration but failed to get any help. Most of the passengers have cancelled their booking of cabins and the vessels are being operated with only a few passengers, he added.

About five million people had left the capital city for celebrating Eid.