Bangladesh:73 lakh SIM subscribers left Dhaka ahead of Eid

The annual exodus from Dhaka during Eid was reflected in the number of SIM cards moving out of Dhaka over the last 4 days between April 27-30. Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar said in a Facebook post that over 43 lakh Mobile SIM card users left Dhaka  between April 29-30. Another 30 lakh mobile SIM card users left Dhaka between 27-28 April indicating the huge number of people leaving Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their family members and relatives at their ancestral villages and towns. The minister mentioned that it was not a statistic for people as “an individual can carry up to 15 SIM cards”

However, this year, despite usual heavy rush at the ferry terminals, bus stands and railway stations, reports of heavy gridlock and tailbacks were comparatively less compared to last year. According to official data, a total of 4,309,000 subscribers of Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, and Teletalk left Dhaka from April 29-30. The number was 3,000,000 from April 27-29.Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has deployed 500 teams of police personnel in Dhaka to prevent cases of theft and hijacking in the relatively empty capital city during the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. Additional 2500 policemen will be deployed in the city at night, said DMP Commissioner Md. Shafiqul Islam on Sunday.