The Ministry of Railways (MoR) assured on Thursday to take measures against alleged irregularities in railway services.
The ministry gave the assurance in response to the six-point demand made by Dhaka University (DU) student Mohiuddin Roni that includes improvement of Bangladesh Railway (BR) services and checking black marketing of train tickets.
The railway ministry clarified its pledges through a statement undersigned by senior information officer of the MoR Md Shariful Alam issued on Thursday following a memorandum submitted to the ministry (BR authority) on Wednesday by Roni for realising his six-point charter of demands.
About issuance of tickets, the railway statement said at present the BR authorities issue tickets to the passengers from ticket counters at 83 stations, online and through mobile app.
The BR authorities maintain constant monitoring on the ticket issuing system and take departmental action if any officials or employees are found involved in any irregularities regarding issuance of tickets.
The statement also said the BR authorities have succeeded a lot in checking ticket black marketing and will implement recommendations further if the authorities get any from people.
The statement said the BR has taken steps to expand railway network including increasing the number of trains and monitoring activities and ticket checking inside trains would be intensified once the ongoing recruitment process is completed.
Meanwhile, Roni started agitating again on Thursday afternoon at Kamalapur Railway station for improvement of railway services.
But this time his fellows have joined him at the station for realising his six-point demand.
Earlier Roni, a fourth year student of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies of DU, lodged a written complaint to DNCRP against mismanagement of BR including irregularities in issuing rail tickets by sohoz.com.
Roni told the media that he had tried for reservation of a ticket for a Dhaka-Rajshahi route train on June 13 last through mobile phone. He said that required money for ticket was cut through bkash without pin code.
And he did not get ticket and money receipt that compelled him to stage protest and lodge complaints to DNCRP against the BR authorities and sohoz.com.
Following his complaints against Bangladesh Railway authorities and sohoz.com, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) at a mass hearing on Wednesday fined the private organisation responsible for issuing railway tickets Tk0.2 million.
