Private bus operators have suspended sales of advance tickets for home-goers due to ongoing protests staged by the students demanding road safety.
Earlier, they decided to start selling advance tickets from Sunday morning ahead of Eid-ul-Azha which is likely to be celebrated on August 22.
"The decision to suspend ticket sales was taken Saturday night at a meeting of our association members," president of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association (BTOA) Faruqe Talukder Sohel told the FE.
He said ongoing protests of students over road safety forced them to stop the sales as operators thought many of ticket aspirants could not reach bus counters on the day.
"The members of the association will meet again this (Sunday) evening at its Gabtoli office to review the decision," he added.
During visit to different counters of private bus operators at Kalyanpur, Mazar Road and Gabtoli on Sunday morning, the FE correspondent found hundreds of people searching for tickets.
Many counters including those of Nabil Paribahan, Hanif Enterprise, SR Paribahan, Shyamoli Paribahan, Comfort Line, and Bablu Enterprise were hung with banners, saying that sale of advance tickets has been halted for an indefinite period due to 'unavoidable reasons'.
Shyamal Bala, counter manager of Gopalganj-bound Comfort Line Paribahan at Gabtoli, told the FE that many people returned home empty-handed as the association took decision to postpone sales of advance tickets.
He said disconnection of internet also forced many operators to withhold the sale as 60 per cent of bus counters have been digitalised.
Newaz Hossain, a NGO official, told the FE that he tried to buy tickets for August 16 online, but failed. Then he came to SR Paribahan counter at Kalyanpur.
He said there was none at the counter except a banner inscribed with no sale of any tickets on the day.
"Buying train ticket is very tough. I would not be able to mange time for the process. So, I came to buy bus tickets," he added.
Bangladesh Railway (BR), however, is going to sell advance train tickets from August 08 (Wednesday).
Secretary General of Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association (BPWA) Mozammel Haque Chowdhury told the FE that home-goers were uncertain about how would they go home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
He said the government should take immediate necessary steps to start sale of bus tickets in advance to make safe journey of people before the religious festival.
According to BPWA, nearly 8.5 million people leave the city ahead of Eid festival. More than 70 per cent of them travel by bus, it said.
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