An eight-kilometre tailback developed on the Gazaria section of the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway on Tuesday afternoon after garment workers blocked the highway in neighbouring Narayanganj, causing severe disruption to Eid travel.

The congestion began after 4:00pm and stretched along both carriageways from the Jamaldi Meghna Bridge area to Bhoberchar in Munshiganj’s Gazaria upazila, according to highway police and local residents.

Police said that workers of Chaity Garments blocked the highway at Tipurdi in Sonargaon upazila, demanding payment of their outstanding wages.

The blockade triggered heavy traffic congestion on the Gazaria stretch, one of the country’s busiest highway corridors, causing severe suffering for passengers travelling home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

Saiful Islam, a passenger on a Dhaka-bound Motlab Paribahan bus, said that his vehicle had remained stranded in Bhoberchar for more than half an hour.

‘The bus is not moving at all. I do not know when we will reach Dhaka,’ he said.

Hasan Mia, who was driving his family to Cumilla in a private car, said that the already heavy Eid traffic had worsened because of the blockade.

‘We are facing immense hardship due to the congestion,’ he said.

Bhoberchar Highway Police Station officer-in-charge Shah Kamal Akhand said that police were working to ease the congestion.

He said that traffic movement would return to normal once the workers withdrew the blockade.