Hundreds in Rajshahi forced out of train despite having tickets

Hundreds of students and parents who took part in the admission test of Rajshahi University were not able to get on the train even after buying tickets for the Padma Express from Rajshahi to Dhaka.

When enraged passengers gathered at the rail station, law enforcers from Nagar Boalia Model police station brought the situation under control.

Passengers complained that they had bought tickets at TK600-Tk900, though the actual price was Tk300. Even then they could not travel on the train. Authorities forced them to get off the train and even refused to give them an explanation.

The students and other passengers took position on the platform demanding to know the reason behind such behaviour.

Boalia Model police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nirbaran Chandra Barman urged the people to calm down and assured them of taking necessary steps in this regard.

Police official from Boalia Model police station trying to control the crown at Rajshahi rail station on October 6, 2021 Dhaka TribuneUniversity student Murad Hossain, a resident of Mugda in Dhaka, said he booked a ticket of the Padma Express for Tk900 at around noon. 

However, when he got on the train, the train ticket examiner forced him, and a lot of others, out of the train.

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He demanded that they be immediately returned to their destination and those responsible for this chaos be punished.

In this regard, Rajshahi Railway Station Master Abdul Malek said that the tickets for the Padma Express train had sold out online and at the ticket counter a week ago. 

Traveling train ticket (TT) examiner sold some standing tickets which caused the chaos.

Rajshahi Railway Station Manager Abdul Karim said they had sold the tickets a week ago. There was no possibility of new tickets being sold. Here the Rajshahi railway station authorities were not at fault, he contended.

He added that TTs worked to ensure that no one could travel without a train ticket. They checked the tickets by going around the carriages. 

If someone travels without a ticket, the TTs fine him and give him a standing ticket. But this has a limit too. On Wednesday more tickets were sold than the capacity of the train. 

Now the higher authorities can clarify with whose permission those tickets had been sold. For now, a commuter train has been provided to send those stranded here to their destination. 

That train will go up to Ishwardi, from where the passengers will be transported to their destination via Khulna's Sundarbans Express. There was no alternative, he added.