Proper management to lessen hassle of homebound people
People wait in long queues for advance tickets at Chittagong Railway Station.Photo: STAR
Proper management by the authorities concerned and strict monitoring by the law enforcement agencies have lessened the hassle of the homebound people remarkably in getting advance tickets of railway ahead of Eid in the port city this year. Anxiety, however, grips many who could not collect the advance tickets of the long distance buses and trains as those have already been sold out. Authorities of some long distance bus services who are yet to start selling advance tickets, however, assured the homebound people of tickets on the very day they wish to travel. Railway authorities started selling the advance tickets on October 4 of seven trains -- four Dhaka-bound inter-city, two Sylhet-bound inter-city and a Chanpur-bound train -- for five-day trip from October 9 to October 13. Railway sources said four inter-city trains -- Subarna Express, Mahanagar Prabhati, Mahanagar Gadhuli and Turna Nishitha, will leave Chittagong Railway Station for Dhaka with 2890 passengers everyday. Most of 14,450 tickets of these trains for five days from October 9 have been sold out in advance from October 4 to 8, railway sources in Chittagong said. Almost all 9,410 advance tickets for the two Sylhet-bound trains -- 655-seat Paharika and 634-seat Udyan, and one Chandpur-bound train 593-seat Meghna Express -- were also sold out within this time, sources added. To cope with the rush of homebound people, the railway has started running the inter-city trains with extra coaches since October 9 while some standing tickets are also being sold for two Dhaka-bound trains -- Mahanagar Gadhuli and Turna Nishitha --, they said. Due to regular monitoring of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), General Railway Police (GRP) and senior railway officials, the people could buy their tickets from the respective counters without facing nuisance of blackers, said Station Manger ATM Golam Mostafa of Chittagong Railway Station. We are preserving time-to-time record of the sale and it is open to all, he said. “We have also arranged an special express service from Chittagong to Chandpur everyday from October 10 to October 13,” he added. Meanwhile, the people could not collect advance tickets of many long distance buses as staffs of those buses had preserved many tickets for selling them at higher rates later. But the authorities of bus services like Hanif, Soudia, Unique, Eagle and Shyamali denied the allegation saying, they have started the sale of advance tickets of Dhaka and different districts of North Bengal on October 2. Almost all the advance tickets of these services from today to Saturday (October 13) have been sold out. On the other hand, the authorities of S Alam bus service said they passengers will get tickets at different counters before their journey as they do not sell any advance ticket. Many passengers said staffs of different bus services are charging higher price for tickets of different northern region like Khulna, Satkhira and Jessore. Abdul Hamid, a passenger, said prices of tickets have been increased by Tk 50 ahead of Eid. Jafar, a staff of Keya bus service, said they sell tickets at cheaper rate than the government fixed fare round the year and they are to raise ticket price this time to keep pace with the price hike of essentials.
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