Financial Express print this



Tickets at inflated rates

1/10/2006

ONCE again manipulations of reservation and black marketing of tickets at the bus terminals and railway stations are being witnessed by us, on the eve of Eid celebration. This has become the scene of every year but nothing effective is being done to protect the interest of passengers.
It is understood that this kind of racketeering is unabated at the different booking centres and terminals in the city. We were told that the law enforcers would be deployed at the booking centres to prevent black marketing. But nothing has improved.
Advance tickets for homeward journey are not available at the ticket counters of the transport companies. But at a small distance from the spot, tickets are sold at inflated prices. It is reported the tickets were all sold much before the spree of buying started. So the brokers are having a brisk business. Tickets priced at Taka 200 are sold at Taka 350. The whole ticket-selling system has been occupied by black market operators.
A passenger has no option. He has to buy it from any source. So there can be a mechanism to take possession of ticket-selling system by an alert law enforcing agency. And to facilitate easy availability of tickets on such occasions, only a certain percentage of tickets can be sold in advance. Also serious malpractice has been reported about ticket booking arrangements at Railway stations. Black marketing of tickets is, thus, carried in the premises of the Railway stations. So only deployment of law enforcers is not enough.

Abul Khair
Purana Paltan, Dhaka