Home rush gains momentum

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The monitoring agencies remain silent at the terminals in stopping the bus and launch operators from charging thousands of homebound passengers extra fares ahead of Eid.

Meanwhile, the bus operators are waiting to make extra bucks for the second time as around five lakh garment workers would start leaving Dhaka as their vacation begins on September 30.

Sources say there are around 1,000 garment factories in and around the capital where about five lakh workers work.

All the entrance roads to different terminals remained jam-packed as thousands of homebound people were marching towards the terminals.

The traffic men and regular policemen had to face severe troubles to tackle the situation.

The sources say at least 10 complaint centres have been set up at Gabtoli, Sayedabad, Mohakhali, Kamolapur and Sadarghat terminals to monitor and prevent all kinds of irregularities in ticket selling and also to curb public harassment.

Moreover, several mobile courts were assigned and personnel from various law enforcement agencies have been deployed at the terminals.

But all these measures have failed to change the situation due to apparent reluctance of the forces.

The officials of the complaint centres claim everything is going normal as they have received no complaints at all.

But many of the victims alleged they had lodged complaints but got no assistance.

Shahidul Islam of Comilla said, “I bought a ticket at Tk 140 from Sayedabad bus terminal which was earlier Tk 70-80.”

According to the chart of fares fixed by the government, the price of a Dhaka-Comilla ticket is between Tk 65 to Tk 95.

“There are complaint centres and officials from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority [BRTA] and different law enforcement agencies. But none of them is coming forward to stop the irregularities,” said Shahidul.

BRTA Inspector Joynal Abedin, in-charge of the complaint centre set up at Sayedabad, told The Daily Star, “Everything is okay. There is no irregularity and none of the passengers filed any complaints.”

Asked, he said the bus employees had earlier charged less than the government-fixed rates. Now they are charging the fixed rates, which appear to be extra to the passengers.

Maruf Hossain of Netrakona looked furious as he bought a ticket at Tk 180 from Mohakhali in presence of law enforcers and monitoring authorities. He had to pay Tk 60 extra.

Talking to The Daily Star, Sub-inspector Hasan, who was found sitting at the complaint centre at Mohakhali, said he has so far received a single complaint for extra fare.

Speaking anonymously, another policeman said the bus employees are applying different techniques to charge additional fares.

“At first they say all tickets are sold out. If the passengers offer extra money for tickets, they manage tickets and say someone had booked and later cancelled those,” he added.

An employee of Soukhin Paribahan said they do not charge extra fares, but different other companies are doing it.

Saiful Islam Sohag of Jhenidah said, “I had to buy a Tk 200-250 ticket of a normal bus at Tk 400 for Shoilakupa from Gabtoli counter.”

According to the chart displayed at the terminal with the government-fixed rates, the fare is Tk 313 for special chair coach and Tk 240 for normal bus.

Ruhul Amin, an employee of bus owners’ association in Gabtoli who is assigned to monitor irregularities and receive complaints, claimed, “All the employees are receiving the government-fixed fares from the passengers.”

The complaint centre at Gabtoli terminal was found closed after 3:30pm. An employee said the centre remains open till the office hour.

During visits to Gabtoli, Mohakhali, Sayedabad terminals and several bus counters in Shyamoli and Kalyanpur, hundreds of homebound people were seen collecting tickets paying extra money.

The launch passengers were also seen scrambling for a place even on the deck by paying extra bucks.

Overcrowded vessels were seen leaving the Sadarghat launch terminal, with some launches taking passengers from boats in midstream to avoid the patrol teams.

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