Md. Shahjalal, Barishal
Advance launch tickets for the Barisal-Dhaka route have started selling ahead of Eid. BIWTA also said that strict measures will be taken to curb the black market of tickets. From Monday morning, there was a crowd of ticket seekers at various launch counters in Barisal. Launch staff are busy explaining Eid advance tickets to passengers. From April 12, various launch authorities took slip of passengers’ names to get advance tickets. Tickets are now on sale from that list. But the passengers complained that they did not get the name even after writing the name for the advance ticket. They allege that the ticket has gone into the hands of influential people and black marketeers.
Arifur Rahman, a trader who came to the Sundarbans Navigation Company counter to get tickets, said, “I left my slip at the counter on the first day of submission.” But now I can’t get a ticket. However, it can be seen that some people are trying to sell tickets at double the price during the journey. An employee named Atiqur Rahman said, “The counters are struggling to give tickets to the people nearby, how can we get there.
We are not getting tickets for kinship.” Zakir Hossain, in-charge of the ticket booking office of the Sundarbans Navigation Company, said passengers were having a hard time as the demand was higher than the launch cabin. It is not possible to give tickets to everyone. Those who are not getting it are making various complaints. However, these allegations are baseless.
Mostafizur Rahman, an official at Barisal River Port and joint director of BIWTA, said action would be taken if any irregularities were reported regarding launch tickets. We also have surveillance.
During normal times, 16 launches travel on Dhaka-Barisal route daily. However, this number was doubled by launching special services before and after Eid.