Mawa expressway: Traffic snarls up at both toll plazas

There were long tailbacks on Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway as the government yesterday started taking tolls from motorists.

Since morning, vehicles started gathering near Dhaleshwari toll plaza in Keraniganj. The tailback reached up to five kilometres at times. Some of the motorists had to wait for one and a half hours to pay the toll.

This has happened even though all of the 12 booths of the toll plaza were operational throughout the day.

Dewan Abul Kashem Mohammad Nahin Reza, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Munshiganj, said some motorists were not aware of the toll and they argued with the toll plaza employees, causing the long tailbacks.

At Bogail toll plaza of Faridpur's Bhanga upazila, travellers witnessed four-km-long tailbacks in the morning when only four of the 10 booths were operational.

The congestion eased when the authorities opened three more booths.

Truck driver Lokman Jaman said he had to wait for over an hour to reach the toll plaza.

Hossain Ali, passenger of a Tungipara-bound bus from Dhaka, said he went to Dhaka by the same road on Thursday from Tungipara in just three hours. But his bus was stuck at the toll plaza for two hours yesterday.

"If we are to reap the benefit of the Padma Bridge, we must improve our toll system," he added.