Eid travel tickets a matter of privilege

While common people in the capital struggle hard to collect bus tickets ahead of Eid, the task appears very easy for privileged groups having connections with owners or officials of transport companies.

Despite waiting in long queues for hours, people do not get tickets for their desired travelling dates as bus staff claim they have sold out. But this is not applicable for all.

Influential and privileged people do not stand in queues. They directly go to the counters, make phone calls to higher officials of the bus companies and connect the official or counter staff.

This was a very common scenario yesterday in counters of different reputed bus companies that started selling tickets in advance on Friday to facilitate travel for holidaymakers ahead of Eid, to be celebrated either on July 18 or 19.

Visiting different counters yesterday, it was noticed that a large portion of tickets were being sold in this way depriving ordinary people.

Around 1:30pm, a person came to a bus counter of Shyamoli Paribahan in Technical area and asked for a person named Kishore. When he found Kishore inside, the man said, “Sikander bhai will talk to you.” The man gave his phone to Kishore and the conversation lasted around 30 seconds. Kishore then gave the man four tickets for July 15 with Rajshahi as the destination.

The man did not reply when asked who “Sikandar bhai” was. But the ticket seller said he was known to the company's management.

In around one hour that this correspondent stayed there, at least 50 tickets were sold in a similar manner.

It added to the suffering of the common people standing in queues as the counter staff were entertaining the privileged section.

“I have been waiting in the queue for around an hour. They gave tickets to only four people during this time,” said Kawsar Mahmud who was looking for a ticket to Lalmonirhat.

Around 2:15pm, this correspondent, posing as a passenger, sought tickets for July 15 or 16 to Gaibanda at a counter of SR Travels in Gabtoli. But the counter staff replied there was none available.

Just then, a person arrived and sought two tickets of the same route for July 15, giving reference of an official of the company's Kalyanpur counter. He was duly provided with ones of a bus leaving at 7:30am.

Around 3:00pm, over 100 people were waiting in a queue at a counter of Hanif Paribahan at Balurmath of Gabtoli. Most were looking for tickets for July 14 to 17. But they too were similarly being refused.

Suddenly two youths arrived, saying one “Mahbub Saheb”, an official of the company, had sent them for two tickets to Panchagar for July 15. They faced no trouble getting those.

Asked about this lobbying culture in collecting tickets, Shyamoli Paribahan Managing Director Romesh Chandra Ghosh said around 20 percent of tickets of his company are sold to the privileged section.

“Ahead of Eid, we get phone calls from VIP persons like senior police officials, bureaucrats, businesspersons, politicians and journalists. We can not refuse them. We have to entertain them for the sake of our business,” said Mosharaf Hossain, general manager of Hanif Paribahan.

Over 3 lakh people leave the capital daily in the three days ahead of Eid, said transport operators.