Call to stop extra toll collection at river port terminals

FE REPORT
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) has demanded stopping extra toll collection by the leaseholders at the river port terminals including Sadarghat in Dhaka during upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, considering the interests of passengers.
BJKS Secretary General Md Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury made the demand, says a statement issued by the organisation on Saturday.
It said the leaseholders in connivance with a section of employees of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) were allegedly charging passengers extra money (toll) at all the river ports and over 400 boat terminals. In some cases, they were also harassing the passengers, it added.
Mr Chowdhury said BIWTA has yet to take any visible and effective measures to stop overcharging passengers and harassing them despite the Prime Minister's directives to stop such bad practice.
Due to such an unethical practice by a section of leaseholders and BIWTA employees, he said, helpless passengers have no option but to vent their anger against the government. He also called upon the Ministry of Shipping, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) and Department of Shipping to take immediate steps to help the passengers get rid of such situation during Eid festival.
UNB adds: Ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the leaseholders of BIWTA and District Council (Zila Parishad) have been collecting additional tolls violating the terms of an agreement from more than 400 points of launch ghats and river ports across the country.
The BJKS secretary general in a statement raised the allegation. He said extra toll was being levied on passengers going up and down for crossing the river by boats at Sadarghat. "If someone is crossing the river by boat carrying daily essentials, the leaseholders employed by BIWTA are illegally extorting them at the rate of Tk 20/30/50/100. However, there is an agreement to collect the fare per passenger crossing the boat."
This 'looting trade' is seen not only at Sadarghat but also more than 400 river ports and ghats leased by BIWTA across the country. Besides, such looting is going on at ghats and boat ghat points owned by the district councils in remote areas of different districts of the country, he alleged.
Passengers are being harassed if they protest against such extra toll collection. As a result, the leaseholders are giving responsibility to unruly youths of the area for collecting tolls at these ghats. Many passengers have to cross rivers and ghats with extra tolls and illegal tolls as per their demand.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com.