Bangladesh Railway has formed 23 task forces to enforce the “Ticket belongs to the traveler” policy and curb black-market ticket trading.
Over the past seven days, these task forces have collected Tk17.26 lakh in fines and ticket fares through their operations conducted on various routes from October 6 to 12.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry on Tuesday, the task forces collected a total of Tk4.97 lakh in fines and Tk12.29 lakh as actual ticket fares, amounting to Tk17.26 lakh in total.
During the drives, officials in charge verified passengers’ printed names and national ID numbers on tickets and cross-checked them with the identification cards shown by the travelers.
The release further said that 6,278 passengers were found traveling without tickets, while 1,853 others were caught using tickets purchased under different IDs.
During the operations, Bangladesh Railway’s Eastern Zone identified 3,257 ticketless passengers and 986 travelers using tickets bought with others’ IDs.
From them, the task force realized Tk4,71,650 in regular fares and Tk2,06,415 in fines, totaling Tk6,78,065.
In the Western Zone, 3,021 ticketless passengers and 867 passengers traveling under others’ IDs were detected.
The task force collected Tk7,54,000 in fares and Tk2,90,871 in fines, amounting to Tk10,48,307.
Additionally, the task force recommended blocking 53 mobile phone numbers linked to ticket black marketing.
A total of 23 task forces—13 for the Eastern Zone and 10 for the Western Zone—are currently operating.
The task forces will continue their activities alongside the railway’s regular ticket-checking operations. During their duties, members of the task forces will conduct ticket inspections and related activities, imposing penalties or jail terms as per law if passengers are found traveling without valid tickets or using tickets purchased under another person’s name.
