Bangladesh News

It was too long a queue. Having had his Sehri, Tuhin Parvez, hailed from Paikgachha in Khulna, rushed to Eagle Paribahan bus counter in Kalabagan only to find he was the 242nd person standing in line for tickets.

After several hours, most in the queue found that tickets for October 9 and onwards until the Eid day were already sold out.

“People up to serial number 87 got tickets. So I came here to try my luck,” Tuhin said at the counter of the same private bus near Notre Dame College.

Eagle released advance tickets for October 9 and onwards yesterday.

Almost all the private bus companies and luxurious water vessels that run buses and launches to southern part of the country don’t have a ticket left for October 9-13.

Amid government monitoring, scalpers have still captured tickets of inter-district bus services and are selling them at high rates, passengers in Arambagh allege.

Launch passengers allege they had to pay almost double for a cabin to go to different southern districts including Barisal, Chandpur, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bhola, Khulna, Madaripur and Shariatpur.

This time crisis of bus tickets prevails much higher than early years as old and unfit buses cannot hit the road due to strong monitoring by Bangladesh Road Transport Authorities (BRTA).

Advance launch tickets were released yesterday but in many instances sellers were seen asking for higher rates.

The private bus companies selling advance tickets were found taking the price of last destination for any tickets.

“We didn’t increase ticket fare. We’re just charging the fare of the last destination for all,” said an official of Sohag bus counter. Magura-bound passengers and Khulna, Satkhira-bound ones are now paying the same fare.

It was seen tickets for Sylhet and Chittagong regions were comparatively available and the fare was also lower than that of southern region.

For Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Chittagong routes the non-AC bus tickets were selling at Tk 250 and the AC ones at Tk 450 and Tk 350 respectively.

According to the government rules, bus companies can charge Tk 0.80 a kilometre for buses and Tk 0.83 for minibuses.

In Gabtoli, the crowd of homebound people was much less yesterday. Many people were seen buying tickets for October 8 or any date before that.

The bus companies at Mohakhali terminal did not issue any advance tickets until yesterday.

Manly Mymensingh, Netrakona, Jamalpur, and Bogra-bound buses start from Mohakhali. Law enforcers today have a meeting with bus owner associations to facilitate ticket sale to help passengers.

LAUNCH TICKETS
Cabin tickets of most of the launches scheduled to set sail on October 10-12 were sold out on the very first day, staffs and managers of different services said yesterday.

Besides this, launch authorities allegedly demanded extra fare for cabins from the passengers.

Passengers who came to book advanced tickets claimed launch authorities created artificial ticket crisis to manipulate prices.

They also claimed tickets are available in black market.

“We usually sell tickets (cabin-single) at Tk 600; now we are selling those at Tk 1,000,” said Lokman, a staff of MV Sadia, a Barguna-bound launch, as this correspondent posing as a passenger wanted to buy a ticket.

Fares of double-cabin have also increased, Lokman said.

Another staff of Amtoli-bound launch MV Paira-3 said tickets are available but the prices are higher than usual rate.

Staffs of Ghoserhat-bound MV Jamal-2 said there is no cabin ticket for October 9-12. They also admitted that fares of cabin (single-double) are much higher.

Leaders of Bangladesh Inland Water Ways Association denied the allegation of increasing fares.

“Instead of increasing fares, we are giving 10 percent concession on deck fares,” Siddiqur Rahman Patwary, secretary of the Association, told The Daily Star at his Paltan office yesterday.

“If you give any evidence of taking extra fare, we will take stern action against the concerned launch authorities,” he vowed.

“Besides Eid season, we did not take full fare from the passengers in order to survive in the competitive market. But now as there are enough passengers, we are taking full prices,” said a launch owner at Sadarghat Launch Terminal.

“Passengers are now branding the full fares as extra or increased,” he claimed.

Currently, about 250-300 launches are being operated on around 56 routes from Sadarghat, sources said.

Bangladesh Inland Water Ways Association said they will operate extra frequency to meet the overloaded passengers.

The BIWTC will also operate extra steamer launches to meet the extra load of passengers, said its Chairman Ali Kabir.

TRAIN TICKETS
People are also rushing to Kamalapur Train Station for advance tickets, which will be available from October 4.

COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER
Communications Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin yesterday ordered the concerned agencies to check overloading of passengers in launches and steamers on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr from October 10 to October 20.

Several mobile teams headed by magistrates will monitor the loading of passengers in launches and steamers. Legal action will be taken against violators, the adviser told reporters at a meeting on riverine transportation management before Eid at his ministry.

He also ordered the authorities to keep rescue vessels Hamza and Rustam ready so that any rescue operation, if need be, can be conducted on urgent basis.

The adviser said law enforcement agencies have been asked to mount watch at ticket counters and crowds at launch terminals to protect passengers from snatchers, dope party and thieves and check scalpers.