Shohoz faces Tk 2 lakh fine

The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection has fined Shohoz.com, an online ticketing platform, Tk 2 lakh after finding evidence of its mismanagement in selling tickets of Bangladesh Railways.

The DNCRP organised a hearing on Wednesday after receiving a complaint form Mohiuddin Rony, a 4th year student of Dhaka University’s Theatre and Performance Studies Department, over irregularities in ticket sale by Shohoz.com.

The hearing on Roni’s complaint was held around 10:00am at the meeting room of the DNCRP , said DNCRP Director General AHM Shafiquzzaman at a press briefing on Wednesday.

As per the decision of DNCRP, Roni will get 25 per cent of this penalty (Tk 50,000).

Mohiuddin Rony and representatives of Shohoz.com were present during the hearing.

Talking to reporters, Shohoz’s lawyer Mirza Ragib Hasnat said they are not satisfied over the verdict. “We will challenge against it,” he said.

Rony who was conducting a one-man protest against corruption in the country’s rail administration, was forced to come off his daily program at Kamalapur Station on Tuesday. Instead he submitted a memorandum containing his demands and grievances to the director general of Bangladesh Railway.

He has been protesting alleged mismanagement and corruption at Bangladesh Railway since before Eid ul Azha, after falling victim to the dodgy e-ticketing system.

“Kamalapur Station authority stopped me from entering the station territory yesterday, and today when I went to submit my memorandum to the director general of Bangladesh Railway (at Rail Bhaban), Ansar-police tried to block me from entering the building,” Rony said.

He had been showing up at the station since July 8, with a 6-point charter of demands to reform the railway system. There is no doubt he would be viewed as an irritant, whether in Kamalapur or Rail Bhaban, especially since the fraudulent e-ticketing system had already been uncovered by the authorities, and steps were underway to completely replace it.

His demands are to stop passenger harassment by e-ticketing platform Sohoz.com, to prevent the black market chain of ticket selling, to stop the online booking system altogether and facilitate an easier, more transparent way to buy any type of ticket for the masses, to increase the number of trains to meet demand, and finally to form strong monitoring cell that truly ensures quality service on behalf of BR, right down to the price of goods like water, food etc... in the train.