Staff Reporter :City’s Kamalapur Railway Station on Monday witnessed a huge rush as homebound passengers thronged there to collect advance tickets.As on Monday was the last day of the sale of tickets on the occasion of holy Eid-ul-Fitr, the rush of the people was more compared to the last four days. The sale of advance tickets on the last day began at 8am and continued till 4pm. Bangladesh Railway began the sale of advance train tickets from June 22 and continued till yesterday. The homebound passengers were seen waiting in long queues for collecting tickets for their journey on July 5. Ahmed Bakul, a businessman, told The New Nation, “I came to the station after Fajr prayers. When I came here I saw many people waiting in long queues before every counter. However, I got my tickets finally at about 9:30am.”Amir Hossain, a student, said that he bought four advance tickets for going to Chittagong. “I arrived at the railway station at about 6:00am and at last I got four tickets,” he said. Additional police, elite force RAB, Railway security force and intelligence personnel have been deployed in and around the station to maintain law and order and to check the sale of tickets in the black market.However, the women ticket seekers complained about the Railway’s discriminatory decision for keeping only one counter for them. About 500 women queued up in front of the counter on Monday.Ashma Akhter, an employee of a private company said there were many counters for men. But, the Railway authorities kept only single counter for the women, alleged.When contacted Kamalapur Railway Station Master Sitangshu Chakrabarty said some 18,000 tickets on 33 trains were sold every day.At least 84 additional compartments will be added to various trains. Three pairs of extra trains will also ply on Dhaka-Khulna, Dhaka-Parbatipur and Dhaka-Dewanganj routes, he said.The sale of the tickets started on June 22. Tickets for July 1 were sold on June 22, tickets for July 2 were sold on June 23, tickets for July 3 on June 24, tickets for July 4 and 5 on June 26 and 27. Sale of tickets started at 8 am and continued till 4 pm every day.
