Hundreds return empty-handed

Hundreds of people returned empty-handed from the city's Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS) that witnessed a record crowd Wednesday in comparison with the rush of last three days for advance tickets.
Officials said ticket aspirants showed much more eagerness to leave the capital on July 27 (tentatively the last office day before Eid), causing the rush, they said.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR) authority started selling advance tickets from July 20 which will end today (Thursday) by giving tickets for July 28.
"My heart was pinched by the announcement at 11:30 am that all tickets of Ekota Express and Nilsagor Express were sold out," said Md Luful who remained standing in the queue at KRS for more than 16 hours.
Md Lutful, a garment employee, came to the place after failing to get tickets of private bus to go to his village at Parbatipur in Dinajpur district.  
A BR official told the FE that as per the information from the private bus operators, who began advance ticket sale much earlier, demand of tickets for July 24 and 27 was higher.
He said Eid will tentatively be celebrated on July 29 and official holiday is from July 28 to 30.
"Many service holders, who managed leave of two days -- July 27 and July 31 (tentatively an office day) are going to enjoy a nine-day holiday from July 25 to August 2," he said.
"But a significant number of service holders and other professionals will start leaving the city from July 27 which has created an unbearable pressure for the operators of every mode of transport," he commented.
"The rush for advance train tickets for July 24 and July 27 was also much more in KRS which were given on July 20 and July 23 respectively," he said.     
Mutalib Hossain, a private bank official, told the FE that he had been standing in the queue for tickets since Tuesday noon.
"My serial number was 250. The ticket seller told me at 2:00 pm that all allotted tickets for North Bengal-bound trains had been sold out," he said.
Md Ajgar Hossain Dulal, a high school teacher, was in the queue for collecting tickets of Mahanagar Provati, Mahanagar Godhuli or any train of Chittagong.
"It was 12:00 noon when my turn came and the ticketing manager said two tickets were left for me against my demand of four tickets," he said.
Many of Chittagong residents are trying to have journey by train this Eid to avoid hassle of traffic gridlock due to dilapidated roads, he said.
KRS manager Khairul Bashir told the FE that a total of 18,500 tickets of intercity trains are being sold at Kamalapur.
He commented that the number of ticket aspirants was much more than the seats available.
"Today's rush was the highest compared with that of last three days," he said.
Another KRS official said BR's passenger-carrying capacity remained unchanged against a steady rise in the demand for railway communications.
"Ahead of Eid, around one million people will be travelling by 43 trains, of which 29 run on intercity routes and 14 are mail trains that operate daily from Dhaka to different districts. Last year a total of 42 trains moved to and from Dhaka," he said.