The Dhaka University student who was conducting a one-man protest against corruption in the country's rail administration, has been forced to call off his daily program at Kamalapur Railway Station.
Instead he has submitted a memorandum containing his demands and grievances to the director general of Bangladesh Railway.
Mohiuddin Rony, a fourth-year year student of Dhaka University's Theatre and Performance Studies Department, had been protesting alleged mismanagement and corruption in Bangladesh Railway since before Eid-ul-Azha, after falling victim to the dodgy e-ticketing system.
Rony, who has cut a lonely figure through his protest despite plenty of people agreeing with his views and offering support through other means except standing by him, told journalists how the authorities were slowly making it impossible for him to carry on.
"The Kamalapur Railway Station authorities stopped me from entering the station territory yesterday, and today when I went to submit my memorandum to the director general of Bangladesh Railway (at Rail Bhaban), Ansar-police tried to stop me from entering the building," Roni said.
He had been showing up at the station since July 8, with a six-point charter of demands to reform the railway system. There is no doubt he would be viewed as an irritant, whether at Kamalapur or Rail Bhaban, especially since the fraudulent e-ticketing system had already been uncovered by the authorities, and steps were underway to completely replace it.
His demands are to stop passenger harassment by the e-ticketing platform Shohoz.com, to prevent the black-market chain of ticket selling, to stop the online booking system altogether and facilitate an easier, more transparent way to buy any type of ticket for the masses, to increase the number of trains to meet the demand, and finally to form a strong monitoring cell that will truly ensure quality service on behalf of BR, right down to the price of goods like water, food, etc on trains.
Roni styled his trek to Rail Bhaban from Kamalapur on Tuesday as a “long march”.
When contacted, he said: "During this protest I have faced many challenges and threats to stop this protest but I want to see it through to the end."
He also said by imposing a ban on him so that he cannot enter the premises anymore, Kamalapur Railway Station has clearly violated his civil right - a point on which he is probably on a much firmer ground.
He also said he is forced to hide his present location for “security reasons”.
"Till now no one has assured me on my claims," he added, when asked about his demands.
