Jamaat leaders, activists to arrive in Dhaka for grand rally on 4 special trains

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has rented four special trains from Mymensingh, Sirajganj, Rajshahi, and Chattogram to Dhaka for both the outgoing and return journeys to facilitate the travel of its leaders and activists for the party's rally on Saturday scheduled at Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan.

Sources at the Ministry of Railways, Jamaat has paid about Tk 32 lakh for renting these trains.

The party sources said on Friday, some of the trains are set to depart in the evening, while others will depart Saturday morning. They will return to their respective destinations Saturday evening.

Amid discussions and criticism on social media regarding the Jamaat renting the trains, the Ministry of Railways has issued a statement saying there has been no deviation from the usual procedures in operating the special trains.

Jamaat's Rajshahi city unit has rented a special train on the Rajshahi–Dhaka–Rajshahi route under Bangladesh Railway West Zone for Tk 12 lakh. The Madhumati Express, with its 11 coaches is set to depart Rajshahi at 1:00am early Saturday. Usually, this train departs Rajshahi at 6:00am and arrives in Dhaka via the Padma Bridge.

A notice signed by Md Abdul Awal, assistant chief operating superintendent said on behalf of the West Zone general manager that the special train will run using the number 755/756 Madhumati Express, which remains closed on Saturdays. It will depart Dhaka for Rajshahi at 8:15pm on Saturday and reach Rajshahi at 1:15am.

The train from Sirajganj will depart at 6:00am on Saturday and reach Dhaka at 9:30am. It will return to Sirajganj from Dhaka at 11:55pm.

The Chattogram train will depart at 11:30pm on Friday and return at 11:30pm on Saturday. This special train has 1,030 seats.

Railway officials said Jamaat applied to operate special trains to attend the rally in Dhaka. Since these are special trains, an additional 10 percent fare is applicable for regular seats, while air-conditioned (AC) seats cost 20–30 percent more. Jamaat will have to pay around Tk 12 lakh for this special train.

Another train from Mymensingh is set to depart Mymensingh at 6:00am on Saturday.

Amid criticism over renting out trains to Jamaat, Bangladesh Railway said in a press release that there has been no deviation from from the standard procedure.

The press release, issued by the railway ministry's senior information officer, Rezaul Karim Siddique, noted that there were precedents for operating special trains upon the request of political parties for major programmes.

The statement said that in response to Jamaat's application for its rally, Bangladesh Railway approved the operation of special trains. Misleading propaganda has been observed on various social media platforms centring this issue.

Misleading information is being spread on social media in a biased manner without knowing the previous history of Bangladesh Railway's approval for special trains on political party requests.

The railway further said that the trains will be run with designated coaches that are closed on Saturdays.

Moreover, Saturday being a weekly holiday, there is usually lower passenger demand. As a result, no regular schedule will be disrupted due to the operation of these special trains. This will have no impact on regular passengers on these routes. Jamaat paid around Tk 32 lakh in advance to rent these special trains in cash, which has increased the revenue of the railway, said the statement.

The operation of trains for Jamaat's rally is a commercial decision by the railway and has no relation with partisan politics.

The decision was made in accordance with existing practices.

Similar decisions will be taken in future upon application from any political party. There is no scope for confusion or misinformation in this regard, added the ministry.