People suffer as BR, BRTC advance ticket sale begins Anomalies alleged

Homebound people suffered immensely for collecting tickets ahead of the two major religious festivals with the beginning of advance ticket sale by Bangladesh Railway (BR) and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC).
Many of the ticket aspirants returned empty-handed after failing to get tickets for October 1 which were given Friday while many others thronged the Kamalapur Railway Station (KRS) on the day to secure a place on the queue to get tickets for October 2.
The tickets for October 2 will be given today (Saturday). Tickets for October 3, 4 and 5 will be given from September 28 to 30, according to the BR.
Meanwhile, private bus operators started advance ticket sale from September 15 and most of the tickets for October 1, 2, 3 were sold out, according to people at different bus counters.
A massive rush of ticket collectors was witnessed at Kamalapur who wanted to avoid a bumpy journey on highways due to its ramshackle condition while a significant number of home-goers went for train tickets after failing to get tickets of private bus.
Ticket seekers at KRS alleged Friday that allocated tickets were sold out much earlier which deprived hundreds of people of getting tickets for October 1.
Kalyan Ray, an NGO official, was standing on the queue to collect four tickets of Lalmoni Express to go to his hometown to celebrate the Durga Puja with his family.
"I came here at 11:00 pm Thursday to collect tickets for October 1 and my serial was 80. Despite undergoing suffering for the whole night I got nothing," he said.
He also said the counter managers took much time to issue tickets.
"And many people were seen collecting tickets violating the serial," he alleged.
Ashfaqe Chowdhury Mithu, a student of Jagannath University, came to the KRS Friday noon.
"I've come here to secure a nearer place in the queue so that I can get ticket for October 2," he said.
However, tickets for October 1 to 3 were most in demand, according to different transport operators.
"All preparations have been made to operate smooth train service and ticket sale following the directive of the railway minister," BR Director General M Tafazzal Hossain said.
He said necessary steps including security measures have been taken up in selling tickets for different destinations at Kamalapur Railway Station.
He recognised that the number of ticket aspirants is much higher compared to the capacity of the BR.
"We are trying our level best to distribute tickets timely to the home-goers," he said.  
The state-run BRTC's advance ticket sale also began early in the morning Friday from its Motijheel, Joarsahara, Kalyanpur, Mirpur and Fulbaria depots in the capital.
Many of the ticket aspirants claimed that tickets were booked much before the official sale began.
Eid-ul-Azha will be observed on October 6 while Durga Puja will be celebrated from September 30 to October 4.
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