Chandpur Times Top Newspaper in Chandpur
Complaint of charging extra fare from launch passengers on Chandpur-Dhaka route.Passengers traveling on the launch on the Chandpur-Dhaka waterway have been accused of charging more than the stipulated fare. Earlier, a third class ticket from Chandpur to Dhaka was priced at Tk. 100 and a second class ticket was priced at Tk. 150.
But the launch owner’s authority has increased the previous fare and now the third class ticket is being deducted from the passengers at Tk. 115 and the second class ticket is being deducted at Tk. 160. It is alleged that the passengers are being subjected to extreme harassment while buying launch tickets.
It is known that from the holy Eid-ul-Azha till now, the authorities of Chandpur Launch Owners’ Association are charging more than the previous fixed fare for those traveling daily on the Dhaka-Chandpur route.
Over the last few days, several launches at Dhaka and Chandpur have arrived at the Chandpur launch dock and several passengers have complained.
Some Passenger said, ‘We use this river to travel from Dhaka to Chandpur or from Chandpur to Dhaka in aesthetically. But for these ticketing price reason launch Owners harras us.We want authority resolve this problem’.
‘It is absolutely irregular to collect rent from us without the direction of the government or without any prior announcement. In addition, the staff of some launches treat us very badly’, Passengers added.
But despite the allegations of the launch passengers, the launch supervisors say that no additional charges have been levied on the passengers of the launch. The rent is being collected as per the official list.
Several launch owners supervisors of the Chandpur Launch Owners Association, including Md. Ruhul Amin, Yusuf Bepari and Ali Azgar,said fares were being collected from passengers as per the previous list as per the BIWT approved list.
They said, the third class rent in the government list is 116 taka and we are deducting 115 taka there. And where the second class fare is 186 taka in the list, the fare is being deducted 180 taka. In the corona situation of the country, when the fare has been increased in different vehicles. As such, due to the low number of passengers on the launch, the launch owner authorities applied to the BIWTA to increase the launch fare. But BIWT did not increase the fare but instructed to collect the fare from the passengers as per the official list. We are charging passengers accordingly. However, except for the second and third class, the rent of other classes including the cabin is being deducted on the previous price.
When I spoke to Chandpur BIWTA Deputy Director Kaisarul Islam about this, he also said the same thing. He said the launch owner had applied to the authorities for an increase in fares due to the low number of passengers on the launch during the corona period. But BIWT did not instruct not to increase the fare but instructed to collect the fare from the passengers according to the list of fares that come as per kilometer as per the official list’.
Correspondent: Kobir Hossain Mizi, September 08,2020
