30 to 60 pc fare hike in Barisal

They are charging 30 to 60 per cent higher fare.

At least 224 launches sail on 28 major routes in Barisal division. Usually the one-way launch fare on Barisal-Dhaka-Barisal route was Tk 50-80 on deck, while it was TK 300 for non-AC single cabin and Tk 500 for double cabin. An amount of Tk 100 extra fare was charged for AC cabins. But during the Eid season beginning one week ahead of the festival ending and one week afterwards, launch owners raised the deck's fare to TK 100, while for non AC single and double cabin the fare was raised from Tk 400 to 800. For AC single and double cabins launch owners increased fare from Tk 600 to 900. Cabin tickets were already sold out while passengers were given only a paper marked PAID without mentioning anything.

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According to launch owners association, at least 112 launches sail regularly on Barisal-Dhaka-Barisal route with 30 cabins per launch.

The lunch owners would fetch at least additional Tk one core and 12 lakh by increasing the fare.

"Still the increased fare is less than the government fixed fare chart", launch owners told this correspondent.

However, they failed to reply to a question as to why the fare was lower at other times whereas it increased manifold during the Eid season.

On the other hand about 100 coaches ply on different routes of the region linking Dhaka. On average there are 40 seats per coach for 4,000 travelling pasengers.

Bus owners increased fare of their vehicles by at least Tk 30 per seat. This would remain en force for a fortnight during the Eid season.

Bus owners would earn an additional amount of Tk 22 lakh and 40 thousand.

However, in this assessment extra trips of launch and buses are not counted.

Still Suravi of Crescent-Star Navigation Company is an exception as the company did not increase their fare during the Eid season.

Black marketing of tickets by the agents of launch owners and staffs is also reportedly going on.