September 6, 2022
DHAKA – A government employee, who had travelled several times without tickets in different trains of Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet railway routes during his service, has made the payment of all fares recently, after his retirement.
Emdadul Haque (61) of South Mourail area of Brahmanbaria town, came to the booking assistant’s room at Brahmanbaria Railway Station around 12:30 pm yesterday (September 5, 2022) and paid all the previous fares for travelling by train without a ticket.
Emdadul, a father of three, worked as a constable at the Anti-Corruption Commission and went on retirement in December last year.
During his service, Emdadul sometimes travelled without tickets on different trains as he could not manage tickets but he kept records of all the fares of train travel without a ticket. According to those records, he paid the railway dues.
“There is no other way to repay this debt. So I deposited the money directly into the railway. I don’t know if I will be free from the liability, but I will get peace of mind.”
Emdadul Haque told The Daily Star that during his service, he had travelled several times without a ticket on different trains on Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet routes. But now, he is suffering from guilt after retirement.
The fares were paid after contacting the railway authorities, he said.
The story went viral on social media after Sohel Rana Bhuiyan, the admin of a Facebook page named “The Train”, posted a status mentioning the incident.
Didar Mollah, a booking assistant at Brahmanbaria Railway Station, said, “Emdadul travelled several times without a ticket during his time as a service holder. But he had been suffering from remorse ever since he retired.”
“That’s why he contacted the railway himself. To get rid of the debt, today he paid his dues by buying a ticket worth Tk 2,530.
Brahmanbaria Railway Station Master Rafiqul Islam said the railway authorities were overwhelmed as Emdadul has set such an example of honesty.