Sale of advance rail tickets for Eid ends
People waited in long queues for hours at Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital yesterday to get their hands on advance Eid tickets. The railway authorities sold advance tickets for September 24, the day before Eid-ul-Azha, yesterday that prompted scores of people queuing up at different counters of the Kamalapur station. The counters opened at 9am and were functional until 5pm. However, many alleged they did not get the tickets of their desired destination as tickets were sold out before their turn came. When many were seen smiling broad with tickets in their hands, many others were seen in a dejected mood after failing to get any. Some of them also alleged of graft in the sale of tickets.
Many of those standing in queues were standing there over night. Shimu Aktar, a student, got her ticket at 10am yesterday for Mymensingh-bound Teesta Express after standing in a queue since 8pm on Friday. Sitangshu Chakrabarty, manager of Kamalapur Railway Station, claimed there were no discrepancies anywhere at the station and that people got tickets standing peacefully in queues. Our resources are limited, so are the seats. We cant please all. But, if necessary, we will add more coaches, he said. Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion arrested five people for selling train tickets in black market at the station yesterday. However, the railway authorities claimed that there were no irregularities. Acting Railways Secretary Feroz Salah Uddin visited Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday. After the visit, he told reporters that they have all necessary preparations to maintain the schedule of trains this Eid.
