Bangla Mirror desk :
UK living Shahanara Akhtar’s husband died in Bangladesh. She wanted to go to Sylhet with her children to attend the funeral of her late husband. When she wanted to book the tickets, she was told by the travel agent that there was only one seat left. As a result, she could not take her two children but went to Sylhet by herself to join the funeral with a broken heart. When she boarded on the plane, she immediately knew that the plane was flying with 80 empty seats. Kamrul Ashraf Khan, member of parliamentary committee of Biman and Civil Aviation Ministry told about this heartless incident in a committee meeting. The incident took place on Saturday 16th May.
Kamrul Ashraf Khan said that Biman flew with 80 empty seats but failed to issue tickets for two children who wanted to come to Sylhet to join their father’s funeral. This is heartless, brutal and inhuman. He also said that one of his close relatives witnessed the event.
However, Rashed Khan Menon, Civil Aviatoin, Tourism and Biman Minister said that he knew about the fraud with tickets in Biman and said that he will take action after independent inquiry.
When Bangla Mirror contacted Biman authority about this incident, Barman’s Country Manager Shafiqul Islam said that, the customer did not contact Biman directly for the tickets. However, he said that customer requested for one seat from the travel agent and was given the confirmation and ticket. When asked about the other tickets, the Manager told that the date of the passports were children were expired, hence travel agency could not issue any tickets for the children.