Scalpers providing advance train tickets in Sylhet

Ticket scalpers are providing advance tickets for inter-city trains in Sylhet Railway Station and its adjoining shops, charging Tk 100 to 200 more than the original price, although ticket counters informed that those were sold out on July 30.
Most of the buyers, aiming to travel from August 4 to 8 to reach their destinations before Eid-ul-Fitr, informed The Daily Star on Thursday evening that the date of sale on the tickets were from July 26 to 30.
Among them was Nazrul Islam, a private company employee. He informed The Daily Star that he paid Tk 300 extra for two tickets to travel to Dhaka on August 8. Chittagong-bound passenger Roksana Begum said she bought a ticket for August 7 paying an additional Tk 160.
Trader Arif Miah collected a ticket for Chittagong from one of the shops paying Tk 150 more. “It is a regular affair, you can buy tickets from them at any time,” he said.
Denying that tickets were available in the black market, Sylhet Railway Station Manager Abul Kalam Azad said no complaint was lodged in this connection.
This year there was a huge rush for tickets as the authority did not provide extra compartments to cater for the increased number of home-bound people prior to Eid-ul-Fitr, he said, adding that even many of the railway staff did not get tickets.