Staff Reporter :
Kamalapur Railway Station on Tuesday witnessed virtually a ‘ticket war’ as thousands of home-goers thronged the railway station to buy advance train tickets to ensure a hassle-free journey ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
The sale of tickets began at 9:00am. Many of the holidaymakers have been waiting since last night at the station to buy tickets.
The sale of advance tickets will continue till September 19.
Meanwhile, the state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will begin selling of advance bus tickets from today (Wednesday).
Both the Railways Minister Mujibul Haque and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday expressed their firm determination to ensure smooth journey for the homebound people.
The authorities have been asked to maintain train schedules during the period, while law enforcing agencies will be deployed at important railway stations apart from mobile courts to check ticket black marketing.
The BRTC advance tickets will be sold at Kamalapur, Kallyanpur, Gabtoli, Joarshahara and Mirpur bus depots,” Chairman of the corporation Md Mizanur Rahman told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Railway Minister Mujibul Haque visited Kamalapur Railway Station in the morning to monitor the selling of advance tickets. The BR will begin advance return ticket selling from September 23 and continue till September 27.
The tickets for September 21 will be sold on September 16, tickets for September 22 on September 17, tickets for September 23 on September 18 and tickets for September 24 will be available at Dhaka and Chittagong stations on September 19, an official of Kamalapur Railway Station said.
The return tickets for September 27 to be sold on September 23, for September 28 to be sold on September 24, for September 29 to be sold on September 25, for September 30 to be sold on September 26. The tickets will be available at Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat stations, said officials.
A passenger is able to buy maximum four tickets and tickets once sold would not be refundable.
The railway authorities will operate seven pairs of special trains from September 22 to October 3 to cope with the passengers rush during the festival.
During the visit, the Railways Minister Mujibul Haque said that the train journey would remain normal during the Eid and there would be no lapse.
Some 138 coaches from the workshop will be added to the existing ones while a total of 224 locomotives will be in operation across the country every day ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, he said. The minister said, the law enforcers and mobile court have been deployed to check black marketing of tickets.
Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said, there will be no traffic jam ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Talking to journalists in a briefing at the Secretariat, the minister also noted that it is the unfit vehicles that are responsible for traffic congestions and law-enforcement agencies will remain alert to make sure that no unfit vehicle can ply roads ahead of the Eid.
CNG-filling stations will also remain open round the clock from September 22 to September 30 ahead of the Eid, the minister said. He added that trucks, covered vans and lorries except those carrying cattle, perishable items and medicines, would not be allowed on the highways before three days of the Eid and four days from the Eid Day.
The minister also announced that the sale of tickets for special buses of BRTC will begin from today. BRTC will operate 1,043 buses across the ahead of the Eid, he added.
