Not just VIPs!

Tickets for rail travel is not only given to VIPs but provided to all passengers in critical need, says Railway Minister Mazibul Hoque, while inspecting sale of advance tickets at Kamalapur railway station ahead of Eid and Durga Puja.

Hoque said 270 new rail coaches will be inducted into the Bangladesh railways soon to improve services.

He denied charges that VIPs are often provided tickets beyond their assigned quota of five percent of the total tickets on offer.

"There is no chance of that," he said.

Hoque said it was not true that only VIPs could get tickets from ministers and secretaries.

"They all help common people who are in dire need of tickets. I do help many ordinary passengers who must travel with tickets," said Hoque. "When journalists ask for such tickets for emergency travel, will I or my officials not oblige!".

Many passengers complained to the ministers that they were not able to get any tickets for AC coaches or berths for sleepers.

"It is possible that some won’t get what they are looking for. Our resources are limited, demand is high," he said.

But he insisted that even with limited resources, the railway was trying its best to meet passenger demands and maintain quality services during the Eid-Puja season.

"We will keep trying to meet all demands with our limited resources."

Hoque said nearly 250,000 tickets are sold every day. "The railways are trying to accommodate all additional load of passengers. 130 coaches are kept aside for handling additional passenger load."

Fourty-five new engines have been inducted into the Bangladesh railways, said Hoque, adding 70 more are slated for immediate induction.

A total of 270 new coaches -- 120 with Indian funding and 150 with ADB funding -- are to be inducted soon, Hoque said.

"We also suffer a paucity of manpower, but we must have smart staff at the counter and not slow, lazy ones during this rush season," Hoque told journalists in presence of senior railway officials like acting railway secretary Mansur Ali Sikdar and Director General Tofazzel Hossain.