Staff Reporter :
Admitting his wife’s involvement with suspension of Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) Shafiqul Islam of Bangladesh Railway (BR), Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan on Sunday asked the Bangladesh Railway (BR) to withdraw the suspension order.
At the same time, he asked the authority to serve a show-cause notice on the BR’s Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) of Paksey Division Nasir Uddin for suspending him without informing the minister.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway has been directed not to provide any illegal benefits asked for on trains, mentioning names of railway high-ups, and to take action as per law against such persons.
The instructions were given in a letter signed by the Railway Minister’s private secretary Mohammad Atiqur Rahman on Sunday.
However, while briefing media at his Rail Bhaban Office in Dhaka on Sunday, Nurul Islam Sujan also admitted the three passengers who were recently fined by TTE Shafiqul for travelling without tickets, are the relatives of his wife and it was his wife who lodged the complaint against TTE Shafiqul Islam in this regard.
“I, till Saturday, wasn’t aware that the passengers who were fined are relatives of my wife,” he added.
Expressing his embarrassment over the incident, Sujan said, “I felt ’embarrassed’ by the phone call his newly married wife made to a railway official following the incident. She hasn’t done the right job.”
“However, she did not ask the railway authorities to suspend the TTE,” he claimed.
He informed, “The suspension order of the TTE Shafiqul has been revoked. The BR authority has been asked to withdraw the order. At the same time, a show-cause notice has been issued against Railway’s Pakshi DCO Nasir Uddin for his actions.” The suspension order was given without executing proper procedure, said the Railway Minister.
In response to a query about TIB’s reaction demanding his resignation temporarily after the incident, the minister said, “TIB’s statement was issued in a hurry. They did it before confirming my involvement there.”
The suspension order of the TTE came on Friday following his alleged misbehaviour and fining three passengers, who were travelling without tickets and introduced themselves as relatives of the Railway Minister.
However, the Railway Minister on Saturday claimed that he was not related to the passengers.
“I have no relationship with them. Someone may have tried to take advantage by using my name for travelling ticketless by train – the Sundarban Express from Ishwardy Railway Station,” he said.
According to the letter, recently it has been observed again that introducing themselves as relatives, family members, friends or acquaintances of the private secretary and assistant private secretary to the railway minister without their knowledge, some people demanded special facilities onboard trains, demanding train tickets at various Railway Stations.
In addition to this, many people using the reference of the minister’s private secretary, assistant private secretary and private officials ask for illegal benefits and favours over the phone from various project directors of Bangladesh Railway, mentioned the letter.
It added that when the railway minister was informed about the matter, he directed taking legal action against them. He also sent their mobile phone numbers to law enforcement agencies and instructed them to identify them.
In such cases, instructions have also been given to the concerned official and staff of Bangladesh Railway not to get confused and not to carry out any activities outside the official process.
On Friday, Travelling Ticket Examiner Shafiqul Islam, of Bangladesh Railway’s Paksey division was suspended – a day after he fined three passengers travelling by the Dhaka-bound “Sundarbans Express” without tickets. The three introduced themselves as railway minister’s relatives.
The incident drew widespread criticism and many demanded the resignation of the Railway Minister.
