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Scramble for train tickets ahead of Eid

Staff Correspondent
Huge number of home-bound passengers stood in long queues at Kamalapur Railway Station in the city since early morning yesterday to buy advance tickets of intercity train services of different routes to celebrate Eid festival with their near and dear ones.
Many of the passengers returned empty-handed, as the demand for tickets was more than the seat capacities.
“We have sold all the tickets of all the routes of Sept 17 by 4:00pm and many passengers returned empty-handed." said Shamsul Haque, stationmaster of the railway station.
The crisis of tickets would further intensify in the next three days, as the demand is on the rise, he added.
The railway authorities started selling advance tickets since Sept 7, which would be continued until Sept 20.
The tickets of Sept 18 would be sold today, while those of Sept 19 be sold tomorrow and Sept 20 tickets on Sept 13.
Mostadul. an official of Bangladesh Bank who lives at Maniknagar. came to the railway station at 3:00am to get the tickets of Drutojan Express to go to Dinajpur, but failed to get the tickets till 12:30pm.
"I came to Kamalapur just after taking my sehri (meal taken before dawn for fasting) at 2:30ani and found me behind around two hundred people in the queue," he said.
Faruk, a resident of Mugda, came to Kamalapur at 3:00pm to buy a ticket of Drutojan to go to his village home at Santahar, but to no avail till 1:00pm.
A resident of Kakrail Farhana came to Kamalapur
at 6:00am and was sitting on the floor of the station, keeping her brother in the queue as she became tired standing on the queue for over six hours.
Sheikh Nur A Alam, a resident of Moghbazar, said the authorities should have increased the number ol booths of selling tickets to reduce the suffering of the home-bound passengers.
"I came to buy a ticket to go to Dinajpur at 8:30am. but
failed to book It,” said Shajahan, a resident of Mirpur.
The stationmaster said they would operate four special trains on four routes for three days from Sept 18 to 20 to ease the pressure of passengers ahead of die largest religious festival of the Muslims.
The routes are Dhaka-R a j s h a h I , Dhaka-Mymensingh, Joydevpur-S a n t a h a r and Dhaka-
Dewunganj, he said, adding that three or five extra compartments would also be added with a train to reduce the pressure of growing num ber of passengers.
There is no scope for selling tickets in unscrupulous ways as members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), railway police, Ramna police and railway officials are on duty to check it, he said.
"We can carry 20,000 passengers, including standing ticket holders, in a day during an Eld festival. Of them, 93
percent tickets are sold to general passengers," he said.
The sale of advance tickets of luxurious coaches and non-AC chair coaches of northern districts has already finished, although there is a huge demand for tickets, alleged passengers who failed to buy tickets.
Many passengers complained that the tickets, which are not being sold how, would be sold in dishonest ways just few days ahead of the Eid.
Selling of advance tickets of launch service also started few daysago.