Ease on rail, buses bank on Eid rush

Our Correspondent | Published: July 23, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

CHITTAGONG, July 22: A large number of people had stood in long queues in front of the seven counters at Chittagong rail-station since early morning to buy advance tickets of intercity trains for journey home to celebrate Eid festival with near and dear ones.
But most of them returned Tuesday with tickets for July 26 travels. At around 1.30 pm there was no long queue of ticket-seekers seen at the station. Hardly 40 people were seen in small queues in front of two booking counters for tickets of different inter-city trains for July 26.
Asked, one standing in front of counter-1 said he would buy four tickets of the inter-city express Turna Nishitha non-AC for journey to Dhaka for July 26. And he was hopeful as there were only seven-eight persons seeking tickets for that train.
The counter clerk said he had 60 tickets for sale for Turna Nishitha non-AC at the moment (around 1.30 pm).
Station-manager Abul Kalam Azad told this correspondent at 1.35 pm in his office that there was no rush for ticket at the moment while tickets for different inter-city trains remained unsold till then.
There was a huge rush of passengers for different inter-city trains for July 24 but the queues were not so long today for those who are willing to buy tickets for July 26.
"At this moment I have about 60 tickets for sale for the Turna Nishitha, 26 tickets for Chattala Express and over 40 tickets unsold each for Dhaka-bound Mohanagar Prabhati, Mohanagar Godhuli Express and one ticket for Subarna Express for July 26," he said.
He received no complaint from the passengers as almost all of those who came to the station got tickets today. Some 3,600 tickets for the regular inter-city trains have been sold everyday since July 20 through booking counters of the station, he said.
In addition to the regular trains, there is Meghna Special train for Chandpur for July 26 and the tickets for that special train were also sold through counters, he said.
On Sunday, all tickets for regular inter-city trains for July 24 were exhausted before 1.00 pm as there were a huge number of home-bound passengers for the first day. But the queues were not that long on the last two days, he said.
"I have employed one divisional officer for each counter clerk in all the seven counters of the station to check black-marketing of tickets in the station and this is how the sale of tickets is going on from the beginning on July 20," he said.
Meanwhile, bus passengers at the Kadamtali inter-district bus counters alleged that the bus owners raised bus fares by Tk 200 to Tk 500 a journey. They have in some cases raised almost double the rate on the North Bengal district routes, passengers said.
It has been a tradition with the owners and association of the inter-district buses every year to raise the bus fares to cash in on Eid rush. They are taking the advantage due to lack of monitoring by the administration, it was alleged.
At the beginning of the Ramadan, the bus fare of Keya Paribahan from Chittagong to Naogaon was Tk 700 but it is now Tk 1000, Bogra fare was Tk 650 but now it is Tk 1100, Rangpur fare was Tk 750 but it has been raised to Tk 1100, Dinajpur fare was Tk 800 but has been raised to Tk 1200, Syedpur fare was Tk 750 but raised to Tk 1200, Kurigram bus fare raised to 1200, Chapainawabganj Tk 1200, Patagram, Panchagarh and Hili Tk 1300 and Pabna Tk 1100.
The booking clerk at Keya Paribahan said the inter-district bus owners' association hiked the fare during the Eid-ul-Fitr because they take less at the normal time to attract passengers on a competitive market.