Ensure hassle-free Eid journey

A passengers' rights platform on Saturday urged the government to take necessary steps to stop charging excessive fare and to end different kinds of harassment that passengers face in journey during Eid.

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS), or Passengers Welfare Association, also called for ensuring safe journey through preventing movement of unfit vehicles and removing unskilled drivers from highways.

The rights platform came up with the call at a press conference held at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU).

Secretary general of the JKS Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury and president of the Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA) Abdul Haque attended the conference, among others.

Mozammel Hoque said passengers mostly suffer due to cheating with tickets and schedule collapse during Eid journey.

He blamed various irregularities, including extortion and unplanned cattle market beside highways, for traffic congestion.

He also said airline passengers of different domestic routes have to pay four to five times higher fare during Eid than that of usual period.

"Though some government agencies monitor the passengers' rights on highways and waterways, there is no such action regarding airlines," he said.

The platform also presented a set of 12 recommendations including measures to prevent excessive fare, thwart reckless driving and legal actions against all kinds of irregularities to ensure hassle-free Eid journey.

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