Shyamoli NR selling ticket at higher prices offline, stopping online sale

Passengers on Friday accused Shyamoli NR Travel of selling Eid tickets at higher prices at its counters after staff allegedly bought up all available tickets online and stopped online sales.

Some passengers who managed to buy tickets said they paid Tk100 more than the actual fare for each ticket, while the company’s website showed no available booking option.

Talking to the Daily Sun, Suraiya Begum said, “My husband bought two tickets from Shaymoli NR Travel’s Nodda counter for Tk950, even though the price printed on the tickets was Tk850. I first tried to book tickets online and then called them, but they told us to visit the counter to collect them.”

She added, “Tickets usually show the passenger’s contact number, and buyers receive a confirmation message. But I found that all my tickets had the same contact number—someone else’s. This suggests that a staff member may have bought all the tickets and resold them to us.”

Another passenger, Asadul Islam, said, “My neighbor bought a ticket from Shaymoli NR Travel’s Norda counter, but when I called their number for an 18 March ticket to Patuakhali, the counter operator, Simanto, told me there were no tickets for sale and that advance tickets would be sold later.”

He added, “Their staff told us that advance tickets would be released on Friday, but it feels like we were cheated. The government should look into the issue.”

Witnesses said that advance ticket sales began at the Nodda and Abdullahpur counters in the afternoon but were later stopped following a rumor of a diesel price increase.

The correspondent also observed several tickets being sold that have the same passenger contact number printed on them.

The chairman of Shyamoli NR Travels is Ramendra Nath Ghosh, and the managing director is Suvenker Ghosh (Rakesh).

The correspondent made several attempts to contract Suvenker Ghosh for an explanation regarding the allegations but was unable to reach him by phone.