HOMEBOUND passengers’ ordeal for train tickets on forthcoming Eid festival caught public attention in the past few days as thousands of people were crowding at Kamalapur Railway Station and stayed overnight to buy tickets. Their hassle and sleepless night only showed the troubles and risks that await them to reach home and get back to the city again. Dilapidated roads, narrow highways and most buses running with faulty fitness are highlighting the risks that the home-goers on this occasion have to brave even at the cost of life. Media reports said passengers are also facing hassle at city bus terminals and launch terminals at Sadarghat from where river vessels carry hundreds of thousand passengers to most Southwestern districts. It appears a routine matter on this occasion for some ministers and government leaders to visit the city’s main railway station and other terminals to assure the people of their safe journey and that thugs and black market agents will have no chance to hoard tickets. But the scenario involving the advance tickets sales at the Kamalapur Railway Station and all over the country however showed the government has hardly any control on the situation. Tickets remained untouchable for the vast majority of people fighting the crowd at booking stations. Many blamed that the bulk of the tickets passed hands to black market agents just on opening of the advance sales of tickets. Railway ticket clerks and their brokers are exploiting the situation leaving the people waiting in long queue at the ticket counters. Passengers are buying ticket at twice the real price from the brokers at the stations and dishonest ticket clerks are also selling them at bargain price and law enforcers are reportedly lending support to it instead of stopping it. The reserve seats; which earmark certain percentage of tickets for ministers, lawmakers, bureaucrats and such others removes a big chunk of the tickets creating further scarcity. Most of these tickets are also finding way to brokers’ hand at the end. Media reports said Kamalapur Railway Station is selling around 14,000 tickets daily against a demand for 50,000 tickets a day. The figure just shows the height of the crisis. BRTC is reportedly fielding over 500 buses thus leaving the bulk of the load on private buses when their operators are charging at least twice the fare.Some estimates suggest that over 50 lakhs people will leave the city alone on this occasion and over half of the country’s entire population will be on the move. In our view the law enforcers, specially the highway police must be highly vigilant to ensure compliance of traffic rules and other discipline to avert accident. We hope the occasion will pass without big setback.
