Gulam Rabbani :
Maidul Islam Milton is a third year student of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka. He travels from Dhaka to his native village in Austagram upazila of Kishoreganj usually by train or bus. He has to go some distance by river on his way.
In all, it costs him Tk 500-600 to go his home in normal time. He needs Tk 150 to 200 to go the distance of train or bus commonly. But this time he went that distance on a motorcycle and he had to pay Tk 1800, which is nine times higher than the normal time.
Galib Imteaz Nahid, a businessman, along with his family members on Sunday went to his native village in Khulna town from Dhaka to celebrate the upcoming Eid-ul Fitr. He had to rent a private car to go home as the public transports were suspended. And for that reason he had to spend Tk 10,000 to arrange the travel. In addition to the extra fare there was a lot of sufferings on the road.
But in the normal time he usually takes train or bus to go to his home town. He can go home paying only half what he had paid during the recent trip with full family.
Not only Maidul Islam or Galib Imteaz, most of the homegoers are counting the extra fare this time. Sometimes it is double, sometimes it is three times, sometimes it goes 10 times higher.
Passengers of the domestic flights are also facing the same problem. Sheikh Jamal, a journalist, recently went to Jashore by a flight of US-Bangla Airlines. He bought a ticket with Tk 5000 though its original price is Tk 3500 in normal time.
Again on his way back to Dhaka on Monday he was asked for a ticket worth Tk 9,000. Finally he came back to Dhaka by a microbus along with nine other passengers.
When contacted Mashiur Rahman, an executive of US-Bangla Airlines, said ticket price has been increased due to the rush of the passengers on the Eid occasion. He said that the price of the air tickets fluctuated repeatedly.
People are opting for alternative means of transportation as the operation of the inter-district buses and trains are suspended as part of government imposed restrictions to prevent the infection of the coronavirus.
People were getting in on the transports like domestic flights, private cars, microbuses, trucks, lorries, pickup vans, CNG-run auto rickshaws, human haulers and other modes of transports available there.
The most-scary part of the pre-Eid exodus was mass violation of the Covid-related health guidelines. Some were not wearing the masks properly while some others did not even bother about wearing masks.
Meanwhile, the road transport owners and workers recently urged the government to resume the public transport services amid the ongoing restrictions on public movement and overall activities.
Both the transport owners and workers’ organisations demanded resumption of the public transport services including buses and human haulers while the owners additionally demanded financial supports and relief supplies for workers.
Most of the passengers also demanding the same and suggested that the government should have kept the operation of the inter-district transport running in compliance with health regulations. Then the people could go home easily and pay a low costing.
