Most long-distance bus operators in the capital started selling advance Eid tickets on Friday but like previous Eid festivals they were charging extra from passengers.
Passengers waiting in long queues alleged that bus operators took extra money from them. At Gabtoli bus terminal, counters of Shyamoli Transport, Hanif Enterprise and Sohag Transport began selling advance tickets.
An employee of Hanif Enterprise’s Gabtoli booth said they had started selling advance tickets on Friday which would continue through the first week of August.
Shyamoli Transport, Diganta Transport and Rozina Enterprise employees said they had started selling tickets on Friday which would continue until a few days before the Eid.
Murtaza Khan, a Jessore resident, said counters of Sohag and Diganta transports were charging Tk 50 more for a normal coach ticket.
‘I came to Dhaka from Jessore on a ticket of Tk 210 recently. So why should I pay them Tk 260 to return to my home,’ he asked.
A ticket counter of Hanif Enterprise charged Tk 300 for a normal coach ticket for the same destination.
Mohammad Touhidul Islam, a Satkhira resident, made a similar complaint. ‘Bus operators are charging higher fare as there are no normal coaches but only chair coaches,’ he said.
Employees at the counters of AK Enterprise and MR Enterprise said they were selling tickets for chair coaches only for Satkhira route. AK Enterprise charged Tk 450 while MR Enterprise Tk 500 for a chair coach ticket.
Mohammad Sakir, a Sumon Deluxe ticket seller, said they were selling tickets at Tk 250 and Tk 350 for normal and chair coach tickets respectively.
An employee at the counter of Rozina Enterprise said they were following the fare chart fixed by the government in September 2011.
The communications minister, Obaidul Qader, on Thursday said at a press conference that he would meet the bus operators and ask them not to take extra money from passengers going home to celebrate Eid.
-With New Age input
