Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the civil aviation minister, Rashed Khan Menon, to take drastic action against certain officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines who are involved in "fake booking" of tickets on the national carrier. A minister had raised the issue during an unscheduled discussion at a Cabinet meeting yesterday (Monday), a Cabinet minister told The Independent on condition of anonymity.

The minister, who brought up the matter, pointed out that certain Biman officials were booking tickets in advance and showing all the seats as booked. Those wanting to buy tickets are told to go to certain private or international airlines where tickers are available.

The Premier said some high-ranking officials, such as the manager of Biman, have been involved in corruption for a long time, but nobody has taken any action against them. She instructed the civil aviation minister to take action against the corrupt officials after identifying them.

When contacted, Rashed Khan Menon admitted that some officials have long been involved in "fake booking" of seats on Biman flights. He said the matter will be looked into by the board of directors of Biman.

Sources in the airlines said some corrupt officials have earned a large amount of money by booking tickets in advance in the name of Hajj pilgrims during the ongoing pilgrimage.

This year, the Biman authorities distributed 63,000 air tickets among 104 agencies, instead of 635 operating agencies. A total of 21,000 pilgrims visited Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj in the first phase, 21,000 in the second and 21,000 in the third phase on Biman flights. Strangely, the Biman authorities have also allocated tickets to Hajj agencies whose licences have been suspended.

Leaders of the Hajj Agencies' Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) alleged that some agencies have received 50–100 tickets, while 20 agencies were given 2,000–5,000 tickets.

The illegal "ticket syndicate" took Tk.10,000 to Tk. 15,000 more for each ticket from the deprived agencies.