Although the government has decided to take measures way before the rush begins so that the passengers are not harassed, but can the government actually reassure the passengers that they won't be taken for a ride again? The bus owners, representatives of various transport operators' organisations, high police officials gave their assurances of taking every necessary steps to reduce the passengers' woes at the meeting with Communication Minister last week. But there has already been reports that some transport companies had begun to sell limited number of tickets at a high price after that meeting. And the trend is that the price is going to get higher day after day. The passengers desperate to reach home before Eid become hostage to these culprits.

On the other hand the authority must ensure that alleged extortions on various points of the highways by some corrupt police officials are controlled with an iron fist, so that the bus owners cannot use it as an excuse to increase the price of ticket. At the same time, there should be enough law enforcers at the terminals to ensure that ticket black marketers do not exploit the compelled passengers. And lastly, the launch owners must not be allowed to sell extra tickets and overload the vessel with excess passengers making the journey simply risky.

The authorities have to pay attention to all these, not just by giving orders but by taking real steps. Deceiving the innocent passengers at the time of Eid has become a trend of late. We must stop this.