Ticket scalping causes woes for passengers

In collusion with a section of railway staffs black marketeers sell train tickets at higher prices at Chandpur railway station.

People who fail to buy tickets standing in queue are compelled to buy tickets from scalpers at two to three times higher prices than the government fixed price, said sources at the station.

Law enforcement agencies often arrest them, but after a few days they back to the track and start selling tickets at the railway station and its adjoining areas.

Mostafa Gazi, who came to the railway station yesterday, said a syndicate of 20 to 30 people was controlling the black marketing of tickets at the Chandpur railway station.

He said the syndicate started selling of tickets after midnight every day, but ticket counters were shut down at 10pm and then railway staffs told passengers that tickets were sold out.

“But railway police station and security personnel do not take any step against them,” he said.

The black marketeers also sell tickets from some hotels and fruit shops, he added.

Tickets of Chittagong-bound Meghna Express are always sold on black market as it has huge demand. 

Another passenger Yusuf Molla said tickets of Meghna Express were provided slowly from ticket counters that created grievance among passengers and later railway authority closed counters. Yasmin Akter, a Chittagong-bound passenger, said: “We are not getting tickets, but I saw that each person was getting 15-20 tickets.”

Another passenger Abdul Kader said: “We will have to buy tickets from black market as the railway authority shut down counters.”

When contacted, station master differed with the allegation and said they could not provide tickets to all as the number of passengers was higher than seats. He also assured the correspondent that he would look in to the matter.