Shawdesh Desk:

The dismissal of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) travel ticket examiner (TTE) for fining three passengers for traveling on a train without ticket introducing themselves as a relative of the Railway Minister is now being discussed widely all over the country.

Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan himself opened his mouth about this on Saturday. He said, “Passengers traveling by train without tickets are not my relatives; I have nothing to do with them. Someone may have tried to take advantage of the minister’s name. I have nothing to do with the incident.”

Claiming that he did not know anything about the incident, the minister said that he heard about the incident on Saturday morning. He had heard from senior railway officials that the TTE had treated passengers without tickets very badly. As a result, departmental action has been taken against him. He said the minister had no connection with the official activities of the railways. No relatives of the minister were involved in the incident. The minister did not know about the action taken by the railway authorities against the TTE.

“We are working to increase rail services,” he added. If the passenger without ticket is also a relative of the minister, action will have to be taken against him. No one will be exempted. Similarly, if a railway official misbehaves with the passengers, he should also be punished. Action has been taken against TTE for misbehaving with passengers. Nurul Islam Sujan also claimed that what was being spread involving the names of the minister’s relatives was false.

On Thursday night (May 5), three passengers, introducing themselves as ‘Railway Minister’s relatives’, boarded a train without tickets from Ishwardi railway junction in Pabna. Although they did not buy tickets, they occupied the seats in the AC cabin of the train. They were fined by the Railways’ TTE.

Later, the three passengers complained to the higher authorities of the railways that they had been mistreated.

On the basis of that allegation, TTE Shafiqul Islam was suspended on Thursday night. The suspension came into effect on Friday (May 6). Pakshi DCO (Divisional Commercial Officer) Nasir Uddin confirmed the dismissal.