Ending Eid travel agonies
Thursday, 3 September 2009
The millions of people who leave Dhaka city and other major cities every year for observing the same in their village homes or point of origin during the two Eids, are forced to suffer many travails in this period. The operators of many bus companies sell their tickets in advance to ticket black marketers.
Thus, people who queue up before ticket counters in the small hours before the Eid are told early in the morning that all tickets have been sold.
But to their surprise they find tickets available at the hands of ticket black marketers who sell the tickets not at the already higher charged fare rates of the bus companies but after adding an arbitrary additional amount to the same.
Thus, a ticket for a travel to Rangpur or Dinajpur that requires spending of say, some Taka 300 including the increased fare charged by companies, may cost some Taka 400 or more when bought from a ticket black marketer. A very large number of people who fall in the lower middle class category, or further down, therefore, get pressurized into buying tickets at such cut-throat prices for themselves and their families.
This has been happening, every year, for a long time and redress actions from the authorities or the governments have been more eyewashes than giving realistic relief to affected people.
It is only expected that in view of such agonies of travel encountered unfailingly every year during the Eids, the authorities this time would devise a plan and put it into operation to guard against such exploitation and harassment of common people.
There is yet time to take preparations to deploy law enforcement people before the Ramadan ends in about a fortnight, preferably under overall supervision of the RAB, at all bus terminals in the city to take tough actions against ticket black marketers.
The bus or road transportation companies must be asked by the concerned authorities to abide by the fares they will agree with the BRTA.
Specially, buses operated by CNG must be compelled to reduce their fares which are usually charged at par with buses operated by the conventional fuels.
Anisur Rahman
Pallabi
Dhaka
Thus, people who queue up before ticket counters in the small hours before the Eid are told early in the morning that all tickets have been sold.
But to their surprise they find tickets available at the hands of ticket black marketers who sell the tickets not at the already higher charged fare rates of the bus companies but after adding an arbitrary additional amount to the same.
Thus, a ticket for a travel to Rangpur or Dinajpur that requires spending of say, some Taka 300 including the increased fare charged by companies, may cost some Taka 400 or more when bought from a ticket black marketer. A very large number of people who fall in the lower middle class category, or further down, therefore, get pressurized into buying tickets at such cut-throat prices for themselves and their families.
This has been happening, every year, for a long time and redress actions from the authorities or the governments have been more eyewashes than giving realistic relief to affected people.
It is only expected that in view of such agonies of travel encountered unfailingly every year during the Eids, the authorities this time would devise a plan and put it into operation to guard against such exploitation and harassment of common people.
There is yet time to take preparations to deploy law enforcement people before the Ramadan ends in about a fortnight, preferably under overall supervision of the RAB, at all bus terminals in the city to take tough actions against ticket black marketers.
The bus or road transportation companies must be asked by the concerned authorities to abide by the fares they will agree with the BRTA.
Specially, buses operated by CNG must be compelled to reduce their fares which are usually charged at par with buses operated by the conventional fuels.
Anisur Rahman
Pallabi
Dhaka