Dhaka Bureau: The National Committee for Protection of Naval, Road, and Railways (NCPSRR) has urged the concerned authorities not to increase the fares of railways. In a statement on Tuesday (April 30), the president of the civic organization Haji Md. Shahid Mia and General Secretary Ashish Kumar Dey made this call.
According to the statement, Bangladesh Railways has decided to withdraw the rebate (discount) on the train fare on May 4. As a result of this, from that day on, the fare per person for train passengers traveling a distance of more than 100 km will increase by 20 to 30 percent, depending on the distance. It is mentioned in the statement that this decision of the railway authorities is not acceptable at all.
Leaders of the National Committee for the Protection of Ships, Roads, and Railways said that due to the unbridled rise in commodity prices, the cost of living of common people has increased a lot. Most recently, due to unbearable heatwaves across the country, the incomes of the working class and lower middle-class people have decreased. At the same time, due to crop loss and reduced production, there is a fear of further increases in the price of agricultural products in the near future. In this situation, increasing the fare of public transport like railways is completely unreasonable and against public interest.
Stating that the railway is a state service organization, the commentators also said that the governments of different countries in the world give subsidies to such organizations. It is also being given in Bangladesh, and the government can increase the level of subsidy if necessary. Therefore, the leaders of the National Committee commented that it is not at all reasonable to create public hardship by increasing the rent.
