Thousands of people were seen waiting in the queues in front of different braches of The City Bank and Agrani Bank for the last two days for the coveted Word Cup tickets.
Gopal Bhoumik, who hails from Barisal, was the first to get the e-voucher for his ticket from the City Bank’s Banani branch, one of eight outlets of the bank in Dhaka from where the World Cup tickets are being sold. When asked about his reaction he said all the hardship was worth it as he is getting the chance to watch Bangladesh play cricket at the World Cup. Sumon Sikdar, a student of Dhaka College, got the first e-voucher from the City Bank’s New Market branch at 11:20am after waiting for long 21 hours. ‘This is a unique feeling. I can’t express it in words. Both of them though said they had to pay a heavy price apart from the ticket price. ‘I have been standing in the line since Saturday and was a victim of police baton charge, I was also ousted by the police from my place [which was at the beginning of the line] early in the morning but I was able to get my spot back because of the kindheartedness of the people behind me,’ said an exhausted Gopal.
‘I was injured when police baton-charged in the morning. Thanks to Allah at last I got the ticket,’ said an ecstatic Sumon.
Bangladesh Cricket Board started selling World Cup tickets through several City Bank and Agrani Bank branches all over the country on Sunday.
‘My son got an A+ in the JSC exam. He wished to watch the hosts’ World Cup matches. I have been waiting here from last night to fulfil his desire,’ said Nazmul Hasan, who has a small gold shop, on Sunday.
There was a mild skirmish in that branch in the morning when police asked the big crowd to stand in a line. Police used batons on the mob to bring the situation under control. Some people were wounded though police did not admit that.
‘We heard that there was a fracas and we rushed to the spot on hearing the news but we found everything all right when we arrived,’ said Major Monir, a RAB officer.
Similar thing happened at the City Bank’s Banani branch also. Right before dawn and with just five police personnel present at the premises, some over-enthusiastic persons tried to break the line and the situation got out of hand, the nearby police station sent about 50 policemen to control the crowd.
A lot of complaints about mismanagement and the lack of vision in the planning were raised against the BCB as there was no separate line for the female cricket fans.
A lot of the women cricket fan came to the Banani branch early in the morning at around 5:00am but since there were no separate facilities for them they were unable to buy tickets. When asked they said they were surprised that the authority did not foresee this situation and take steps in this regard. When they tried to seek help from police or the bank authority both the parties pointed fingers at each other.
At the Bangabandhu Avenue branch of the City Bank, the female cricket fans formed a separate queue, but it was not recognised by the bank officials.
‘The bank did not recognise our line as a regular queue as we came just this morning. But what can we do? We can’t stay outside at night because of security concerns. We are citizens of the country. We have the right to get the tickets,’ said Farzana Bobby, a Medical Technology College student, who claimed that she had been waiting from 5:00am. The bank manager refused to talk to the journalists on the plea of excessive workload.
Almost all the branch managers of the City Bank declined to give any official statement to the press.
BRAC University student Shahbaz Imon was waiting in front of City Bank’s Dhanmondi branch from the 31st night. ‘I, along with my friends, have been waiting here from the 31st night. We don’t want to miss the opportunity of enjoying at least one World Cup match,’ said Shahbaj.
However, all the Bangladeshi cricket enthusiasts want to see their favourite team to do well in the World Cup. A frustrated man at the City Bank’s Banani branch, who claimed that he was thrown out of the line, said he would forget all the hassles, humiliation and disappointment of not being able to get the ticket if Tamim and Sakib and, more importantly, the Tigers could do well in the World Cup.
