“I have to go to the capital Dhaka for urgent work; there are no tickets at the counter. Seat-less ticket sales are also closed. That's why I got on the train without a ticket. I will manage the ticket collector (TT) on the train and go to my destination,” said Moyna Akand, a passenger on the Dhaka-bound intercity Brahmaputra Express train from Dewanganj.
The government has stopped selling seat less tickets on rail trains to ensure social distance in preventing the Corona epidemic. At present the situation in Corona is somewhat under control and the passenger pressure on the trains has increased again.
As the sale of seatless train tickets has been stopped at present, the passengers going to work are forced to travel without a ticket by cramming the train doors, food carts or power car bogies.Apart from the inter-city Tistma, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Agniveena and Jamalpur Express, two pairs of private commuter trains run daily on the Dhaka-Sarishabari and Dhaka-Dewanganj railways.
About 50 per cent of the tickets for all these intercity trains go on sale five days before the scheduled departure date. No tickets are available at the counter on the day of departure. So the only reliance of the passengers traveling suddenly is the seatless train ticket.
However, now the sale of seatless tickets has stopped and passengers are traveling on the train without tickets. On the other hand, to prevent corona, the railway authorities have started selling 50% of the tickets online 5 days before the departure. In this way, the black marketeers are constantly cutting and storing the tickets online at each place of the journey break, then selling the tickets at double or triple the price of the tickets from the passengers. As the number of ticket black marketeers is increasing day by day, so the passengers are being subjected to general harassment.
According to the investigation, if the sale of seat less tickets is stopped, the passenger travel is not stopped, but these passengers are constantly traveling in the inter-city trains by managing the on-duty ticket checkers, security personnel and attendants.
As a result, the government is losing a huge amount of revenue, just as the steps taken to ensure coronal control of trains have stalled In this regard, Md Minhazul Abedin Minhaj, a resident of Charpakerdaha in Madarganj Upazila, a student of the intercity Teestma Express train, said, but when I got on the train, I saw that most of the passengers were huddled opposite the seats and were traveling without tickets. I think the government is losing a huge amount of revenue. In this regard, Jamalpur-based human rights activist journalist Jahangir Selim said that the government has stopped selling seatless tickets to reduce passenger pressure inside the train to ensure social distance to prevent corona.
At present the number of passengers has increased as the situation in Corona has become somewhat normal. As a result, passengers are now traveling to Dedarse by train without tickets as the sale of seat less tickets has stopped. In this way, the government is losing huge amount of revenue along with the steps taken by the government to prevent corona.
Mohammad Golam Mortaza, booking in-charge of Jamalpur railway station, said tickets were sold at an average of Tk 3 lakh per day from the ticket counter before the Corona epidemic started. Ticket sales have dropped by half as seatless tickets are currently closed.Jamalpur Railway Station Master Mohammad Asad Uz Zaman said the government has decided to stop selling seat less tickets.
So we have nothing to do even if there is loss of train every day. If the situation in Corona becomes normal and the government decides to sell seatless tickets, the sale of seatless tickets will be resumed. Officer-in-charge of Jamalpur Railway Police Station Md. Golzar Hossain said.
