Kamalapur station braces for mad rush for tickets today

Hundreds of people thronged Kamalapur railway station in the city on Thursday aiming to queue for train tickets for September 23 which will be sold today (Friday).
Officials concerned expect that more than 50,000 people will stand in the queue today for only 9,511 tickets.
They said the demand for September 23 and 24 tickets is high as Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on September 25 (Friday) and the last working day is September 23 (Wednesday).
During the visit to the station on Thursday when tickets for September 22 were being sold, the FE found that hundreds of people were waiting for queuing for tickets for the journey on September 23.
The number of ticket aspirants for September 22 tickets was considerably lower.
Md Abid Hasan (Babu), a BA (honours) final year student of Government Titumir College who came to the station at 12:30 noon on the day, told the FE that he had come here to get the front of the queue for September 23 tickets of Neelsagar Express, a North Bengal-bound train.
"I need four tickets of air-condition coach for my family. There is no alternative but to get the front of the queue," he said, adding that his elder brother will replace him on the queue at night.
"And I will hold the final baton in the morning like 400-metre sprint relay," he said jokingly while standing in front of counter 14 at the railway station.
"Neelsagar Express has 90 AC seats of which maximum 15-16 tickets will be sold to common people as per as my experience of last five years," he added.  
When asked, Station Manager Shitangshu Chakrabarty told the FE that they have arrangement of 14,633 advance tickets of 29 trains of which only 9,511 tickets were being sold from the counters for commoners.
He said 5 per cent of tickets have been allocated for VIPs, 5 per cent for BR officials and 25 per cent for internet and mobile sales.
"The VIPs and BR officials are also collecting tickets from the counters," he said, adding, "We have shortage of tickets against the demand, but we are ensuring maximum transparency."
He said nearly 50,000 people may come to the station on Friday to get advance tickets for September 23.
The number of home-goers will also be higher for tickets of September 24 which will be sold on Saturday.  
Another official told the FE that apart from VIPs, internet and BR officials' allocation, a good number of tickets are sold to people on 'regular quota'. He said 'regular quota' holds 6-10 per cent of tickets of different trains on different routes.
However, many ticket aspirants claimed that they failed to get tickets online.
Humayra Najnin, a housewife who standing in the queue in front of counter 17, told the FE that she and her husband tried hard to get tickets for September 22 through their mobiles, but failed.
She said as they failed to get tickets, they decided to stand in the queue for September 23 tickets. "My husband will come in the evening to give me a relief," she said.        
Meanwhile, law enforcers Thursday morning arrested 5 persons for black marketing tickets. Commanding Officer of RAB-3 Lt Col Khandakar Golam Sarwar told newsmen that the suspects were held along with 27 tickets and Tk 0.203 million.
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