Reza Mahmud :
The ticket selling agents in different bus terminals collected excess fare from the passengers, who were returning to the capital city on Saturday after celebrating the Eid with their relatives at towns and village homes.
Although there was protest, the countermen paid no heed, rather threatened of stopping sale of tickets, said a passenger named Shamimur Rahman. He returned from Madhukhali in the district of Faridpur.
Ticket seller of a bus company demanded
Tk 400 from me though the actual fare was Tk 150. When I said: Why do you demand excess fare? He said: Our bus will return from Dhaka almost empty. As such, we are realizing surplus fare to cover the would-be loss.
As I have no second option, I paid the demanded amount and got a ticket. The salesman smiled and said: Thank you. This was not the single case, but one among many. The ferry shortage and continuous rain in the river of Padma also caused sufferings.
“We had to wait for additional three to four hours after reaching Daulatdiya ferry ghat in Rajbari district on account of ferry scarcity. Thus, thousands of passengers gathered bitter experience,” said, Kaisar Khalid, a resident of Boalmari upazali in the district of Faridpur, after reaching Gabtoli bus terminal of the capital city on Sunday.
Some of the passengers from Khulna and Jessore said that they had waited a long time at Aricha after crossing the river Padma by launch. The company’s another bus was very late to arrive at Aricha in Manikganj district from Dhaka which will return to the capital.
Launch passengers also suffered at Sadarghat terminal on account of the management crisis. The jam packed launches were unable to anchor at terminal due to occupation by the empty launches. As a result, many of the passengers passed few hours in the river though a small number risked to reach the terminal by small boats paying money..
The auto-rickshaw drivers also realised excess fair from the passengers at Kamlapur railway station, Sadarghat launch terminal, Gabtoli, Mohakhali, and Saidabad bus terminals. They demanded an additional amount of Tk 20 to 50 above the meter rate.
The sufferings intensified due to continuous rains. A resident of Pabna town said over cell phone that rains added misery to the passengers.
However, the government, the semi-government and some of the private business offices reopened on Sunday after Eid vacation.
But attendance was quite thin, which has become a tradition on the part of the office employees and officers regardless of the length of holiday.
The ticket selling agents in different bus terminals collected excess fare from the passengers, who were returning to the capital city on Saturday after celebrating the Eid with their relatives at towns and village homes.
Although there was protest, the countermen paid no heed, rather threatened of stopping sale of tickets, said a passenger named Shamimur Rahman. He returned from Madhukhali in the district of Faridpur.
Ticket seller of a bus company demanded
Tk 400 from me though the actual fare was Tk 150. When I said: Why do you demand excess fare? He said: Our bus will return from Dhaka almost empty. As such, we are realizing surplus fare to cover the would-be loss.
As I have no second option, I paid the demanded amount and got a ticket. The salesman smiled and said: Thank you. This was not the single case, but one among many. The ferry shortage and continuous rain in the river of Padma also caused sufferings.
“We had to wait for additional three to four hours after reaching Daulatdiya ferry ghat in Rajbari district on account of ferry scarcity. Thus, thousands of passengers gathered bitter experience,” said, Kaisar Khalid, a resident of Boalmari upazali in the district of Faridpur, after reaching Gabtoli bus terminal of the capital city on Sunday.
Some of the passengers from Khulna and Jessore said that they had waited a long time at Aricha after crossing the river Padma by launch. The company’s another bus was very late to arrive at Aricha in Manikganj district from Dhaka which will return to the capital.
Launch passengers also suffered at Sadarghat terminal on account of the management crisis. The jam packed launches were unable to anchor at terminal due to occupation by the empty launches. As a result, many of the passengers passed few hours in the river though a small number risked to reach the terminal by small boats paying money..
The auto-rickshaw drivers also realised excess fair from the passengers at Kamlapur railway station, Sadarghat launch terminal, Gabtoli, Mohakhali, and Saidabad bus terminals. They demanded an additional amount of Tk 20 to 50 above the meter rate.
The sufferings intensified due to continuous rains. A resident of Pabna town said over cell phone that rains added misery to the passengers.
However, the government, the semi-government and some of the private business offices reopened on Sunday after Eid vacation.
But attendance was quite thin, which has become a tradition on the part of the office employees and officers regardless of the length of holiday.
