No ID, no ticket

The authorities of Bangladesh Railway (east zone) have made it mandatory for passengers to provide national identity (NID) cards while purchasing train tickets as part of a pilot project to check scalping.

The project is being implemented for “Sonar Bangla Express”, a direct inter-city train service on Dhaka-Chattogram route, according to railway officials. It came into effect from January 1 for purchasing tickets online and from January 15 at railway stations, they added.

If the initiative turns out to be productive, it will be put it into practice for buying all other inter-city train tickets.

Nazim Uddin, station master at Chattogram Railway Station, said while buying tickets at the counters a person will have to submit a copy of his or her NID card. For online, one has to enter the NID number, he added.

Though there had been apprehension that people might become less interested in following the procedure, fearing hassle, the initiative is working effectively, he said.

“All the tickets for Sonar Bangla Express till January 24 have been sold out,” he said. A person can buy four tickets at a time using one NID number, which can only be used once a day.

While visiting the railway station yesterday morning, this correspondent saw people submitting copies of their NID cards at the counters to buy tickets.

“I was informed by a friend that NID card is required. My friend said he had to go back home to bring the card a few days ago. So, I came prepared,” said Sazzad Hossain, system developer at Global Compliance Initiative, at the ticket counter.

Sazzad finished purchasing his ticket. “It will take some time to get used to the new procedure but it might prove useful during holidays when scalpers become active,” he opined.

Some of the passengers, however, were a bit sceptical.

Ashik Rahman Topaz, an MBA student at Dhaka University, who often travels between Dhaka and Chattogram, said, “As scalpers work in a syndicate, it would not be difficult for them to purchase tickets, especially online, by using different NID numbers.”

Asked, Sardar Shahadat Ali, chief commercial manager (CCM) of Bangladesh Railway (east), said as soon as a buyer registers for tickets online using NID card and cellphone number, it gets saved against a PIN number.

“On the train, Travel Ticket Examiners (TTE) will crosscheck NID number of the ticket bearer by using the PIN number. If that person fails to show the NID card, then he or she would be asked to verify their cellphone number,” said the CCM.

He also said the major challenge they would face is the lack of manpower.

“To check tickets of all passengers on board through this method would be time consuming… We need to appoint more TTE for that,” he added. “The manpower crisis might create some problems, but we're planning to solve it very soon.”

He also mentioned if anyone fails to submit NID card at the counter, he or she can purchase tickets by submitting copies of any other official document like professional ID, birth certificate or a copy of passport.