Public transport operations will extract additional Tk 8.84 billion from passengers before this Eid despite the government efforts to stop collecting extra fare.
About 10.6 million people are going home from Dhaka and surrounding areas on this Eid trip.
The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity) has provided the information after making field observation on road, rail, waterways and air routes in Dhaka from April 03 to 06.
The passenger welfare association talked to the government vigilance team in this regard.
The vigilance team says, "If any passenger complains, we would take action."
Passengers, however, conveyed to the association that even though such fare anarchy was going on under the nose of the vigilance team members who pretends not to see it.
Most passengers will be transported through water transport this Eid. About 06 million passengers are expected to go to different destinations in the country through various ferry terminals, including Sadarghat and Narayanganj river ports.
An average of Tk 50 to Tk 800 per passenger is being charged as extra fare, depending on the category. Tk 1.20 billion would be charged as additional fare from these passengers before the Eid, it estimated.
CNG-run auto-rickshaws plying in the capital have also joined anarchy in charging extra fares on the occasion of the Eid. About 07 million trip passengers in 25,000 CNG-powered auto-rickshaws plying in the city before the Eid are estimated to pay more than Tk 1.40 billion in extra fare.
Around 01 million easybikes, battery-powered rickshaws and 140 million pedal-powered rickshaws can travel in the capital. Passengers in these vehicles will have to pay an additional fare of Tk 2.80 billion.
Due to the long Eid holiday, 03 million passengers are expected to travel through private transport like cars, motorbikes, microbuses etc. from Dhaka.
In these vehicles, 50 per cent of passengers use their own transport, but 15 million passengers will have to pay extra fare at an average rate of Tk 3,500 per trip to go home on Eid in hired vehicles.
During this Eid, 03 million passengers traveling by long-distance buses from Dhaka have to pay extra fare at an average rate of Tk 300 per passenger. Accordingly, bus passengers will have to pay an additional fare of Tk 900 million.
Every year on Eid, the buses plying in Dhaka city collect a fare of Tk 50 per head of passengers in the name of Eid gratuity from 2 days before Eid to any destination. Passengers will have to pay additional 140 million.
About 1.2 million passengers are going to their village homes by motorcycles this Eid. Some 30 per cent of them are using their own bikes. Others have to pay an average fare of Tk 300 more than the normal time per passenger on the right-sharing motorcycles. Passengers will have to pay an additional fare of Tk 250 million.
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