BANGLADESH Railway will start selling its advance tickets on July 20 ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, as per media reports on Monday. The reports also have it that the private bus operators will start from July 14 while the private launch operators will start that from July 20. All these apparently seem to be good efforts in a bid to avoid travel travails of home-goers on occasion of the Eid festival. At face value, the moves seem a welcome one. Past experiences suggest that such advance ticket sellings open doors to corrupt ones to make self-gains by creating an artificial ticket crisis leading to a black market. Like the past years, tickets of trains, buses and launches may become scarce within hours of opening the sale. The black-marketers would take hold of the tickets. This ticket black marketing makes Eid-journeys very costly and at times unaffordable for many people. Moreover, prospecting passengers expressed dissatisfactions over no government announcement of tackling road hassles and traveling hazards, which are more frequent during the Eid holidays. Celebrating Eid with kith and kin living in village homes is a very traditional practice in Bangladesh. People make a rush to go home using all modes of transport to be united with their families on Eid. Taking advantage of the situation, the transport sector becomes overactive as Eid approaches nearer. Transport operators in that case cash on people’s religious and social sentiments rather unduly. Various transport workers unions make it an occasion of making good money by resorting to extortions by charging unauthorized extra-fees. It is a very common annual practice of concerned ministers and senior officials of the related ministries to make promises of taking strong measures to check overloading of passenger vessels and regulating time schedules but in reality the people experience more odds than relief. The transport owners, especially the water transport owners, overcrowd the launches to earn some extra bucks. These owners are powerful enough to materialize their greeds and never hesitate to put the lives of thousands of passengers at risk. Money is their first priority, not human lives.The unbearable traffic tangles on the highways is another bitter experience of Eid journeys. Most of the roads and highways across the country are already in a dilapidated condition, which are quite likely enough to make the situation worse for the home-bound passengers. Possibility of long gridlock on highways is too evident under which the passengers may have to spend even longer hours on the roads, if the past is any guide. Besides, tragic tales of road accidents and launch capsizes are very frequent during Eid journeys. Many launches sink because of overloading. Such tragedies can be avoided if the concerned authorities take extra precautions. Moreover, people become victims of highway robberies, especially traveling by night coaches. Patrolling of the Highway Police proved to be ineffective in the past years. To be negligent of duty has become acceptable to the higher authorities.We urge the government and the concerned authorities to make the Eid journeys more hassle free, safe, affordable and convenient to the home-bound Eid passengers. Make sure that negligent one lose their jobs and punished.
