Home-goers face tough odysseys

*Gridlock on Dhaka-Paturia highway during Eid

*Railway starts selling advance tickets

* BIWTA leaseholders collecting illegal toll at ferry ghats 

Home-bound passengers are braced for pain and sufferings during and after their upcoming Eid journeys. These woes and sufferings are mainly attributed to traffic congestion, limited number of transportations, on-going construction works on key points on roads and highways, shortage of tickets as there is limited number of train seats and last but surely not least overcrowded launch and ferry transportations. 

City dwellers intending to travel to their village homes by launches and trains to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones are struggling to manage advance tickets as the owners of water vessels are not selling those at Sadarghat terminal while railway passengers are suffering due to problem in e-ticketing server.

Waterway passengers alleged that they are being asked to buy tickets either from counters outside Dhaka or contact the launch authorities over phone, triggering apprehension of tickets being sold at higher prices and in black market.

But the regulatory body of the government, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), is not taking any action to address the sufferings of the ticket seekers.

When asked about the allegation, convener of Launch Owners’ Association Mamun-Or-Rashid said they are not selling advance tickets in Sadarghat terminal due to poor presence of ticket seekers in counters.

He also said, “You won’t get tickets in Sadarghat. Tickets are sold in the offices of the respective launch authorities. Most of the launch authorities are selling advance tickets of cabins online while many sell tickets through phone contact.”

When contacted, BIWTA Deputy Director Selim Reza said they were unaware of the matter.

“Advance tickets are supposed to be sold both online and at counters. However, launch owners said the number of tickets is fewer than the demand and all the tickets for cabins are sold out within 30 minutes to an hour of opening the sale,” he said.

Selim said they will inquire into why they are doing so with the passengers. During a visit to Sadarghat it was seen that huge ticket seekers gathered in the launch terminal to collect advance tickets but most of them returned empty-handed.

Shoriful Islam, who went to Sundarban-12 to collect advance tickets of the Barishal-bound launch, said tickets are not being sold from the counter.

He said, “The launch staff told me to contact the office of the launch company in Barishal. But when I contacted them, I’ve been told that there’s no ticket for April 30. Now, we have to contact black marketeers to get tickets at higher prices.”

A staff of the launch, admitted that they are not selling tickets from the counter and most of the advance tickets of single and double cabins have already been sold out.

He said they charge Tk 1,400 for a single cabin ticket while Tk 2,800 for a double cabin one ahead of Eid, which were Tk 1,200 and Tk 2,400 respectively earlier.

“Most of the tickets for April 27, 28, 29 and 30 are sold out. But still you can get tickets for the dates. It’s possible to get tickets from black market at higher prices,” a staff of the launch said, wishing anonymity. 

Ruhul Amin, a staff of MV Sundarban-10, said they are not selling advance tickets for cabins from counters.

Other launches, including MV Sundarban-12, MV Surovi-9 and MV Manami, are also not selling tickets from the Sadarghat counters. Staff of MV Parabat-18 said they will sell a few advance tickets at the counter.  

When asked, a staff of MV Manami said they sell advance tickets through Manami app.

Gridlock on Dhaka-Paturia highway

Manikganj Correspondent adds: Eid home-goers are likely to face a tough journey on the Dhaka-Paturia highway of Manikganj due to traffic gridlock as development works in some parts of the highway are yet to be completed.

Transport workers said tens of thousands of people in 21 districts of the southern and western part of the country travel through this highway during Eid. This year, the number of holidaymakers will be several times higher than in the last two years as the Covid-19 situation has improved in the country, they said.

As road repairing and development works are still underway, the home goers might have to suffer on the Dhaka-Paturia highway. The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has been conducting road widening and development works at 10 points of the highway which is hampering normal traffic movement on the route.

During the Eid journey, the pressure of vehicles will be increased four-five times on the highway which will increase suffering also for the passengers. Drivers and transport workers have demanded immediate completion of the highway development works.                  

Meanwhile, RHD sources said all development works on the highway will be completed within April 24.  Roads and Highways Department (Manikganj) Executive Engineer Md Gaus-Ul-Hassan Maruf said road widening, separate bus lane, bay construction, and development work from Nabinagar to Nayarhat and Paturia ghat started in 2021 and are in the final stage.

“We hope all points of  Dhaka-Paturia highway will be opened to traffic before one week of Eid,” Maruf said. Mohammad Golam Azad Khan, police superintendent of Manikganj, said the additional police force will be deployed on the highway to ensure the safety of the Eid holidaymakers.

“Adequate police force will be deployed on 36 kilometres long highway from Manikganj’s Barbaria point to Paturia ferry ghat (Terminal) to ensure smooth vehicular movement and security of the home goers.”

The movement of all goods-laden trucks will remain suspended for three days ahead of Eid. Besides, mobile patrol teams comprising additional police personnel will also be deployed at every bus stand, he added.

Railway starts selling advance tickets

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway has started selling tickets in advance on Saturday for homebound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Ticket seekers crowded Kamalapur rail station and four other spots in Dhaka Saturday morning to purchase train tickets. The ticket sale began at 8:00am at five spots — Kamalapur, Airport, Cantonment, Tejgaon railway stations and Fulbaria in the capital, said sources at the Railways Ministry. The tickets for travelling on April 27 are being sold on the first day.

Like previous years, half of the train tickets will be sold at ticket counters while the rest online, the Railway sources said. The advance ticket sale will continue till May 1.

Many intending travellers said they had been standing in the queues since Friday midnight to buy their desired tickets. The advance tickets of April 28, 29, 30 and May 1 will be available on April 24, 25, 26 and 27 respectively.

Besides, return tickets for May 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be available on May 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. People have to collect tickets after showing their NID cards or birth registration certificate.

Each passenger will be able to buy maximum four tickets. Besides, six pairs of special trains will run on different routes on the occasion of Eid.

 Train tickets not available 

According to another report, railway passengers continue to face problem in managing train tickets both online and offline due to the problem in the e-ticketing server.

Many alleged that they cannot collect advance tickets from the website of Bangladesh Railway because of the shutdown of the server. The passengers who thronged Kamalapur Railway Station on Friday to collect tickets from counter faced the same problem.

Many said they had to wait for upto eight hours to collect tickets from the station while many said most of the tickets went to the hands of black marketeers.

Shahabuddin Khan, a railway passenger, said, “I tried several times to collect a ticket of Netrokona-bound train online on Thursday for April 25 but failed. Later, I collected it through a racket paying Tk 900 which is double than the regular price.”

Abdur Rashid, a passenger of Jamalpur who went to Kamalapur Railway Station to get advance ticket for April 25, said, “I got the ticket after standing in queue for four hours. After reaching the station, I came to know that the server of the counter is not working.”

Talking to journalists, Kamalapur Railway Station Manager Mohammad Masud Sarwar said there is no chance of tickets going to black market.

 He said, “Our law enforcement agencies, including Railway Police, Rapid Action Battalion and Detective Branch, are working to prevent scalpers. Trains have the capacity of ferrying 50,000 passengers per day but a higher number of passengers hit the online platform to get advance tickets. We can’t provide tickets for all of them.”

“Sohoz.com takes charge of railway ticketing system only 27 days ago with new software to sell tickets. They will improve the service with the passage of time. Today the server got down once and the company promises that it won’t happen again.”

Masud said the server of the e-ticket of the railway got stalled when a huge number of ticket seekers hit the website. 

Railway will sell advance Eid tickets for April 27, 28, 29 and 30 and May 1 on April 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27. Eid holidaymakers can collect the tickets from Kamalapur, Old Fulbaria, Tejgaon, Cantonment and Airport stations.

BIWTA leaseholders collecting illegal toll at ferry ghats 

A massive looting is going on in the name of taking toll in all river ports and ferry ghats across the country centering the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, said Jatri Kalyan Samity on Saturday. Jatri Kalyan Samity secretary general Mozammel Haque Chowdhury in a statement said the lessees are taking extra tolls and harassing passengers.

The contract of BIWTA and Zila Parishad is being violated in those ghats, he alleged. Mozammel said, “As per the contract with the government, lessees can take toll from passengers only at Sadarghat during the ferry crossing but they are not following it. They (lessees) are taking Tk 20-100 as extortion from those passengers who are carrying goods and essentials with them.”

BIWTA lessees are involved with this crime, said the statement. Mozammel said this looting is continuing not only at Sadarghat but also in more than 400 river ports, ferry ghats and crossing points leased by BIWTA and Zila Parishads across the country.