The Bangladesh Railway's online ticketing partner Shohoz-Synesis-Vincen-JV has claimed to have issued around 1 crore train tickets in the last four months.  The ticket service provider issued 80,000 to 1 lakh tickets online and over the counters on average daily, according to a media statement. Shohoz started issuing train tickets on March 25 this year at 77 stations by counter panel software following its contract with the Railway. Read: Shohoz files writ with HC challenging legality of Tk 2 lakh fine Despite allegations of scams in online ticketing, Shohoz claimed to have issued more than 16 lakh tickets during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha. The vendor signed an agreement with the authority on February 15 to operate the ticketing system of the Railway. In 1994, a computer-based ticketing system was introduced in the Railway. At that time, only 27 stations used to issue tickets through the system, but now, 81 stations use it.

The High Court (HC) on Sunday stayed the realisation Tk 2 lakh fine imposed by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) on e-ticketing platform Shohoz.com following a complaint by a Dhaka University student over irregularities in ticket sale. The HC bench of Justice Mohammad Khoshruzzaman and Justice Iqbal Kabir passed the order after hearing a writ filed by Shohoz, said Lawyer Tanjib-ul Alam, counsel of Shohoz.com. The court also issued a rule questioning why DNCRP’s fine on Shohoz.com should not be declared illegal. On July 26, Shohoz.com filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the Tk 2 lakh fine imposed by DNCRP. In the writ, Shohoz.com appealed to the court to suspend the realisation of fine by the DNCRP and issuae a rule declaring the fine illegal. Four including the commerce secretary and DNCRP have been made respondents to the rule. Read: Shohoz files writ with HC challenging legality of Tk 2 lakh fine On July 20, DNCRP fined Shohoz.com, an online ticketing platform of the country, Tk 2 lakh after finding evidence of its mismanagement in selling tickets for Bangladesh Railway. The DNCRP organised a hearing after receiving a complaint from Mohiuddin Rony, a 4th-year student of Dhaka University's Theatre and Performance Studies Department, over irregularities in ticket sale by Shohoz.com. On July 25, Shohoz claimed there was no negligence while providing service. In a statement, the company said service was provided to Mohiuddin Roni following the terms and conditions mentioned on the ticketing website of Bangladesh Railway (www.eticket.railway.gov.bd). Read: Shohoz fined Tk 2 lakh after DU student’s complaint over irregularities in ticket sale Mohiuddin Roni, a Dhaka university student, from July 8, has been demanding the implementation of his six-point demand after being deceived by shohoz.com while buying a train ticket to go home during the vacation of Eid-Ul-Azha.   He suspended his movement on July 25 after a meeting with the high officials of Bangladesh Railway including the Railways secretary and Director General at Rail Bhaban.

E-ticketing platform Shohoz.com on Tuesday filed a writ petition with the High Court (HC) challenging the legality of the Tk 2 lakh fine by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) after receiving a complaint from Dhaka University student Mohiuddin Rony over irregularities in ticket sales. Lawyer Tanjib-ul Alam filed the writ petition on behalf of Shohoz.com. In the writ, Shohoz.com has appealed to the court to suspend the fine by the DNCRP and issue a rule declaring the fine illegal. Four including the commerce secretary and DNCRP have been made respondents to the rule. On July 20, DNCRP fined Shohoz.com, an online ticketing platform of the country, Tk 2 lakh after finding evidence of its mismanagement in selling tickets for Bangladesh Railways. Read: Rail mismanagement: Roni suspends movement The DNCRP organised a hearing after receiving a complaint from Mohiuddin Rony,  a 4th-year student of Dhaka University's Theatre and Performance Studies Department, over irregularities in ticket sales by Shohoz.com. On Monday, Shohoz claimed there was no negligence while providing service. In a statement, the company said service was provided to Mohiuddin Roni following the terms and conditions mentioned on the ticketing website of Bangladesh Railway (www.eticket.railway.gov.bd). Later on Monday night, Mohiuddin Roni suspended his movement against various irregularities of Bangladesh Railway and for meeting his six-point demand after a meeting with the high officials of Bangladesh Railway including the Railways secretary and Director General at Rail Bhaban.

Shohoz JV on Monday claimed there was no negligence while providing service. Besides, no amount from Mohiuddin Roni’s mobile wallet was transferred into Shohoz JV's account, rather the amount was frozen in his mobile wallet, it said in a press release issued today. Roni, a Dhaka university student, from July 8, has been demanding the implementation of his six-point demand after being deceived by SOHOZ.com while buying a train ticket to go home during the vacation of Eid-Ul-Azha. However, when he alleged this deception to Vokta Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad, they investigated it and fined SOHOZ.com an amount of TK. two lakh of which Roni was given Tk 50000 on July 20. In a statement, it said Mohiuddin Roni initiated his ticket purchase process for four tickets from Dhaka to Rajshahi through the eticket portal of Bangladesh Railway on June 13 at 8.36 am. As he did not have enough money in his MFS account, he cashed in BDT 3000 in his MFS mobile wallet and at 9.37 am he tried to pay the due amount of BDT 2680. But according to railway official terms as he failed to pay the due amount within the 15-minute session, his booking was cancelled. According to our digital record, no tickets were issued for him on the aforementioned date. He was supposed to purchase tickets following the official terms of Railway, however he failed to abide by the terms and conditions while conducting the ticket purchase process, it said.  Tickets were not issued as Shohoz JV did not receive the money; the amount was frozen in Mohiuddin Roni's mobile wallet, it added. Read: Shohoz fined Tk 2 lakh after DU student’s complaint over irregularities in ticket sale According to the terms, as the tickets were not successfully issued, the amount was unfrozen and returned to the consumer through an automatic reconciliation process by the financial service provider within the next 3 working days. This is a tested, safe and globally recognized process of reconciliation. The terms of the process generally vary based on the organization involved. For instance, all banks and MFSs under the jurisdiction of Bangladesh Bank conducts refunds according to their own terms within a stipulated time.  Mohiuddin Roni received his money well ahead of the time mentioned in the terms  Service was provided to Mohiuddin Roni following the terms and conditions mentioned in the ticketing website of Bangladesh Railway (www.eticket.railway.gov.bd). According to Bangladesh Railway terms and conditions (mentioned both in the ticketing website and app) although he was supposed to receive the money within 8 working days, the amount worth the four tickets was returned to his MFS wallet within the next 3 working days. Mohiuddin Roni got service in 2 minutes As Mohiuddin Roni contacted (13 June, 10.14 am) the official email address ([email protected]) of Bangladesh Railway for support, he received an email within 2 minutes (13 June, 10.16 am) asking for the necessary information. However, he did not respond to the email with the required information. Allegation of money being deducted without entering his PIN is untrue.  As per one of Mohiuddin Roni's key allegations, money was deducted from his mobile financial account despite him not providing his PIN code, a claim which is untrue. His mobile banking service provider has already presented all the evidence negating his false claims.  Maliha Quadir, Founding Managing Director of Shohoj Limited said, "Any consumer suffering due to ticket related issues is unexpected. However, in Mohiuddin Roni’s case, all the necessary steps were taken in order to provide services according to the terms and conditions of Bangladesh Railway and the payment reconciliation policy. Shohoz JV did not show any negligence of service."  Shohoz-Synesis-Vincen JV commenced managing Bangladesh Railway’s ticketing system on 25 March, 2022. Over the last 4 months, millions of transactions have been successfully managed by our ticketing platform.

The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has fined Shohoz.com, an online ticketing platform of the country, Tk 2 lakh after finding evidence of its mismanagement in selling tickets of Bangladesh Railways. The DNCRP organized 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 am 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). Read: Lone rail protestor forced to call off program at Kamalapur 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.

The sale of online tickets of Bangladesh Railway will resume from 6 pm Friday for March 26 after remaining suspended from March 21 to facilitate the handover of responsibilities to a new service provider. Bangladesh Railways Ministry issued a notification on relaunch of online ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway through ‘Shohoz’ from March 26 on Thursday. Read:Online train ticket sale to remain suspended from Mar 21-25 The notification said, on Friday, only tickets for inter-city trains of 77 listed stations starting from March 26 will be available on the computerized system of “Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ or online. No tickets for trains starting on March 25 will be available online. The five-day advance ticket for trains operating from March 26 to 29 will be available today through online, it said. From 8 am Saturday, online, offline ticket issuing of the railways will resume as before. However, tickets will not be available on mobile apps for now, passengers will be able to buy online tickets by visiting eticket. railway. gov. bd. Cent per cent of the tickets for trains operating from March 21 to 25 have been sold manually from the counters. A five-year agreement was signed with ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ on February 15 to operate the ticketing system of Bangladesh Railway. Earlier, CNS was involved in the work. In order to re-activate the computer ticketing system by ‘Shohoz’ at 77 stations, it required five days. Read: Train tickets go black market despite online ticketing system Under the agreement, ‘Shohoz-Synesis-Vinsen JV’ will initially operate the existing CCSRTS system that will be replaced by BRITS in the next 18 months. About 90,000 train tickets are issued daily while about 27 lakh monthly through computers. About 50 per cent of these tickets are being issued online or mobile apps.