Eid tickets being sold with extra charges, patrol teams can hardly help: rights group

Road, air and water route tickets are being sold with extra fares, creating chaos ahead of Eid, said a passenger rights group calling for an immediate end to the anarchy of passenger harassment.

In such a situation, extra fares ranging from TK 300 to 1500 are being charged on AC-non-AC buses on various routes from Dhaka to North Bengal this year, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samiti said in a statement on Sunday.

Double fares are being charged on buses on various routes from Chittagong to North Bengal, it added, saying that information has been received about charging extra fares from Comilla, Noakhali, Feni, Bogra, Naogaon, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon.

Meanwhile, advance Eid tickets are being sold at extra fares on various routes in the southern region from Sadarghat Port in Dhaka.

Fare robbery is going on various domestic routes, including Dhaka-Saidpur, Dhaka-Cox's Bazar, Dhaka-Chittagong by air.

The association Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury demanded an end to the anarchy of charging extra fares and passenger harassment on all routes during the Eid journey immediately.

Although the government has said that strict measures will be taken to stop the collection of additional fares, additional fares are being collected in various ways in public buses and launches of various classes.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority have formed a vigilance team to monitor the collection of additional fares in an arbitrary manner, excluding passenger representatives, only the owners of buses and launches.

Chowdhury also said that in the changed situation, the toll on the roads has decreased, and passengers are deprived of the benefits because the fares have not been reduced.

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