BHUBANESWAR: Amidst a horrifying human tragedy that brought people from all walks of life together to rescue the victims of a railway accident at Bahanaga, some unscrupulous bus operators made a bid to make money out of the disaster.
Such incidents came to the fore in Puri, where the bus agents allegedly fleeced stranded Kolkata-bound passengers by charging them exorbitantly for a ticket. Some even charged Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 for booking the tickets online.
As several trains were cancelled and some diverted in the section affected by a train derailment in Balasore district, many people who were to return to Kolkata by trains were stuck in Pilgrim City. On Saturday, many of them tried to book tickets online but were surprised at being charged between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,500 depending on AC and non-AC buses. With no other way out, several passengers booked their tickets paying the exorbitant price.
The tourists who tried to book the tickets physically at bus counters had to fork out Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800 for a ticket that would generally cost them Rs 700 (general) to Rs 1,200 (AC). “The bus agent initially charged me Rs 1,700 but when some of us protested, he gave us a discount of Rs 200,” said Soumitra Das, a tourist. When passengers reported these instances through a local voluntary organisation on Twitter, Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena directed the Transport Department and police officials to act immediately.
Following this, the deputy commissioner of transport (central zone), RTO-Puri and other enforcement officials checked each of the Kolkata-bound buses and inquired about the collection of excess fare from passengers.
Puri RTO Rabin Patnaik said the buses charged every passenger exorbitantly. “Some passengers were charged Rs 1,800, some paid Rs 1,400 and so on. We conducted surprise checks on these buses and so far, three buses have been fined Rs 20,500 each,” he informed. The State Transport Authority (STA) also arranged special OSRTC and private buses for facilitating the movement of stranded passengers.
“RTO teams of Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Puri, and Cuttack have arranged buses for stranded passengers. Strict action will be taken against bus owners if any buses are charging an extra fare and harassing the people travelling from Puri/Bhubaneswar to West Bengal,” it informed.
On the other hand, passengers of Balasore and Bhadrak who arrived from southern states at the Bhubaneswar railway station on the day were also sent to their destinations through 22 buses arranged by the STA.