No decision has been taken yet about the increase of the railway fare, said Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon on Tuesday. “After the price hike of fuel, we are thinking about the increase of rail fare as already many organisations have coordinated the price with the fuel price. Still we do not take any decision,” he said while visiting the Joydebpur Rail Junction. Read: Proposal to double launch fares denied The 30-,kilometer four-rail line work from Kamalapur to Tongi and 12-kilometer double rail line work from Tongi-Joydebpur, involving Tk 1300 crore, have been going on in full swing. The double rail tracks from Gazipur’s Tongi to Joydebpur will be operational in December this year, said Railway Sujon. He also visited the construction works of double rail tracks from Tongi to Joydebpur.

Amid the ongoing nationwide transport strike against fuel price hike, launch owners in Bangladesh have suspended all their services on Saturday demanding that the launch fares be doubled. On Friday, Bangladesh Launch Owners Association held a meeting and sent a letter to the government for doubling fares from the current one, said vice president of Bangladesh Launch Owners’ Association Bodiuzzaman Badal. The letter, signed by association president Mahbubuddin Ahmed, said the government set the fares for launch passengers at Tk 1.70 per kilometer in 2014. Also read: Bus service to resume in parts of Chattogram as faction ends strike

The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) on Saturday castigated the recommendation to hike bus fare by 80 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic, calling it unjust and unacceptable.