Ijtema rush: Metro rail’s Uttara North station entrance being closed every half hour

Metro rail authorities said they are having to close the entrances to the Uttara North station from time to time to cope with the heavy rush of passengers due to it being the last day of Biswa Ijtema.

The authorities started taking the measure from 11:30am today as thousands of worshippers left the second largest congregation of Muslims on the banks of the Turag river.

"There is a huge pressure of passengers today. The concourse floor [first floor where tickets are sold out] has a certain capacity. We have to close the entrances of the Uttara North station when that capacity was exceeded," Tarafder Mahmudur Rahman, deputy project director (public relations) of MRT Line-6 said.

"We have to close the entrances every half hour. We have to continue this system due to the pressure of the passengers," he told The Daily Star at 1:50pm.

He, however, denied the report that the entrances were closed due to shortage of tickets.