Many fail to collect advance tickets:Daily Sun

People in their multitudes line up outside counters at Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital on Wednesday to buy advance train tickets as they want to go to their roots in villages to celebrate Eid. Bayazid Akter Many people who want to go to their village home to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their near and dear ones have failed to collect advance tickets as most of the tickets of bus, train, and
launch have already been sold out. Long queues of people were seen at bus terminals and Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital in the last few days but a small portion of them were able to collect their desired tickets to reach their respective destinations before the Eid festival. Many home-goers said they did not get tickets and blamed poor management for their difficulties. Black marketing of tickets has been widely alleged. The law enforcers also nabbed several people in connection with train ticket black marketing. But the people involved in bus and launch tickets black marketing remained out of touch. Many ticket-seekers have failed to collect advance train tickets for Eid journey from Kamalapur Railway Station. During a visit to Kamalapur Railway Station, many ticket-seekers alleged that they did not get advance train tickets for their destinations although they stood in the queues several times for tickets. As the air-conditioned (AC) and 1st class tickets were sold out within an hour of the start of sale, people only got standing tickets, they said. Mustafiz Ahmed, who came to collect ticket for going to Dinajpur, got frustrated as he did not get ticket though he stood in the queue from Sunday evening. Most of the people, who failed to collect advance train tickets, now try to collect bus tickets. Advance tickets of July 27 and 28 will be sold on July 23 and 24 respectively at Kamalapur and other stations across the country from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day. Besides, commuters will buy standing tickets after July 24 for instant journey. On Monday, railway police arrested 17 persons for their alleged involvement in selling train tickets on black market at the capital’s Kamalapur Railway Station. Bus operators of major bus services and local bus operators have raised the fare from Tk 50 to Tk 200 per ticket. Private bus operators started selling tickets in advance on July 14, but it was not worth the wait in lines for those who were unable to collect tickets. Advance tickets for July 26, 27 and 28, the days before Eid, have already been sold out on the first day. Moinul Islam, a private bank employee, told this correspondent that that he went to Gabtoli bus terminal to buy ticket for July 27 to go to Dinajpur, but he could not get ticket. He is now trying to collect tickets on the black market, he said. Many alleged that ticket touts and brokers are active to grab a large slice of the ticket sales market. In some cases, bus owners themselves keep most of the tickets in their possession to sell them later at much higher prices. Another allegation is that bus owners reserve some tickets for ‘special and influential clients’ before the date of sale. However, an employee at a counterman in Gabtoli claimed that most of the tickets for three days from July 26 to July 28 for several destinations were sold on the first day. Some counters were not at all selling tickets in advance to passengers while the brokers were found active in charging much higher rates. Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) started selling advance tickets at seven depots and other terminal counters on Sunday. Fewer people turned up at BRTC depots and counters in the capital to buy tickets, compared to private bus services. The official said they started selling tickets on Sunday and the presence of ticket buyers is comparatively low but they are expecting more passengers in a day or two. As part of Eid special service, a total of 900 BRTC buses—500 from Dhaka and 400 from elsewhere—will run from July 24 to three days after Eid. Advance tickets are available at Motijheel, Gazipur, Joar Sahara, Uthli, Narayanganj, Kalyanpur and Mohakhali depots and other terminals in the city. The launch owners were scheduled to start selling advance tickets for cabin from July 17 to July 19 but most tickets have been sold out even before the scheduled date of the start of sales. Sources say a syndicate has grabbed a large portion of advance launch tickets to sell those during Eid rush at higher rates. They said some cabin tickets were sold only to the passengers known to the launch owners while some tickets have been collected by some top government officials and relatives of lawmakers.