The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) claimed on Monday that around Tk10bn has been looted from homebound passengers ahead Eid-ul-Fitr in the name of Eid tips and extra charges on roads, railways and waterways, reports UNB.
The PWAB said 76 inter-city trains, 62 mail and express trains and 95 local trains carried 200,000 passengers on average every day, and 48% of the passengers have been forced to buy train tickets from black marketers at extremely high prices.
The association leaders stated these findings at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club.
Association Secretary General M Mozammel Haque Chowdhury read out a written statement at the press conference giving details on how passengers are forced to pay extra fares.
Quoting data from the ministries concerned and bus, train and launch service providers, the association said some 7.5 million people would be leaving Dhaka before Eid.
Meanwhile, around three million people from Chittagong would be leaving for various destinations while another 40 million from one district to another.
The association data showed some 130 million people would have to count extra charges for various travel purposes, from shopping to short distance travel and long distance travel as Eid tips.
PWAB said some 500,000 rickshaws, 200,000 auto-rickshaws, 80,000 busses, 20,000 minibuses, 20,000 microbuses/taxicabs, 200,000 human haulers; nasimon, karimon, bhutbuti and easy-bikes have been added to the country's transport fleet.
Meanwhile, trucks, covered vans, mini-trucks would also ply roads due to the shortage of public transport, the association leaders said.
On waterways, their 1,200 launches and trawlers "both big and small" 22,000 boats, 18,000 speedboats would be carrying passengers.
Quoting their field visits to Gabtali, Sayedabad, Jatrabari and BRTC ticket counters in Dhaka city, and Bahaddarhat and Kadamtali in Chittagong, the association leaders said each passenger is being charged an extra Tk100 on tickets costing Tk500-700.
About river routes, they estimates that a total of Tk36bn would be looted from the passengers in that last 15 days of Ramadan through 10-25 days after Eid.
Like every year, traffic movement on major exit points in the capital significantly increased during daytime, as the rush of homebound travellers gains momentum ahead of Eid.
Thousands of city dwellers been been leaving the city from dawn to midnight on Sunday and Monday, while many more are expected to leave within a couple of days.
