Staff Reporter :
The authorities of the Bangladesh Railway has formed monitoring cells to stop travelling passengers on the roof of the trains and to stop black marketing and mismanagement of rail tickets.
In a report submitted in the High Court the authorities said, “Instructions have been issued regarding the suspension of passenger boarding on the roof of the trains. A monitoring cell has been formed by the General Managers (East and West) of Railways in this regard. Round-the-clock monitoring continues in this regard.”
It also states that “The concerned departments have been given instruction to stop the black marketing of train tickets totally.
A monitoring cell has been formed by the General Managers (East and West) of Railways in this regard. Monitoring continues to prevent black marketing of the tickets.”
Special fencing is under construction at 50 Railway stations to prevent ticketless passengers from entering the stations, also read the report adding that a process is underway to check the National ID cards from the Election Commission’s database at the time of purchasing train tickets.
The report was submitted on Sunday in the High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat complying with its earlier order.
Earlier on July 21 in 2022 the High Court bench on a Suo Moto (voluntary) move asked the Bangladesh Railway to stop carrying passengers on the roof of the trains. If this dangerous transportation of the passengers is not stopped, the court has warned the concerned that it will take tough action against them.
At the same time, the High Court wanted to know what steps have been taken to stop black marketing and mismanagement of rail tickets. The Railway administration were asked to comply with the queries within July 31 this year.
Complying with the court the Railway submitted the report in the High Court citing information including implementation of court directives, improvement of passenger service standards, etc.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik placed the report in the court on behalf of the Railway authorities, who send it to the state law officer on Saturday.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared in the court on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The High Court will pass necessary order over the issue on next Wednesday.
The High Court bench on July 20 became curious over the issues after they were noticed about the protest of Dhaka University student Mohiuddin Rony demanding an end to irregularities and mismanagement in the Bangladesh Railway.
Joint Director General (Operation) in Railway A M Saleh Uddin, Director (Traffic) Nahid Hasan Khan, and online ticket platform Shohoz.com’s Vice-President Jubaer Hossain appeared in the court on the following day.
The court heard them and passed order to stop traveling by passengers on the roof of the trains and asked the authorities to inform the update.
