In such a situation, passengers said the Chittagong Railway Station authorities are yet to start selling of a good number of tickets to the intended passengers, which worsens further the woes of homebound people residing in Chittagong.

"They preserved those tickets to cash in on final hours' 'so-called' ticket crisis or high demand," the passengers said.

The Railway in Chittagong sold advance tickets on five scheduled dates from October 24 to October 29 this year but many passengers said they could not buy any ticket waiting in long queues for hours. Many of them even queued up from the previous night and in the morning when their turn comes in the counter they found in utter despair that 'there is no more ticket for the day!'

Faizul Kabir is one of those unfortunate passengers.

He told these correspondents that he tried two days in vain to collect five advance tickets for November 2 to go to Comilla with family members.

"When I failed to collect my tickets on October 28 standing all day long, I went that night again and waited the whole night sitting in line as the following day was the last day to collect tickets", Faizul said.

"As ill luck would have it, I failed again despite waiting in queues the whole next day," he said adding, "the railway men closed the counter declaring that all tickets were sold."

Many passengers alleged that some scalpers in connivance with a section of dishonest railway staffs bought most of tickets to sell those at exorbitant prices to the passengers.

Station Manager Shafiuddin Ahmad, however, denied the allegation saying that all the tickets of the districts with shorter distances such as Chittagong-Feni or Chittagong -Comilla were sold as per scheduled date and timing.

"But tickets of inter-city trains are still available as rush for such tickets is yet to begin", Shafiuddin said on Sunday.

Although the station manager assured of available inter-city tickets the real picture is different.

Many passengers of the inter-city services did not get their tickets despite repeated attempts at Chittagong railway station.

Anwar Zahid was trying to convince the man at the counter his urgency but all his efforts and entreaties went in vain.

Zahid said he along with his wife and children usually visit their relatives at home in Tangail every year during Eid and hasn't faced such a crisis in the past.

"I am not sure whether I would be able to go to Tangail this time," he said.

Terming the crisis as natural on the eve of Eid, Shafiuddin said they will arrange two special express services from Chittagong to Chandpur on November 3 and November 4, and at least two or three additional coaches will be added to each inter-city trains to lessen the crisis.

Murad Hossain, divisional commercial officer of the railway station, said they had to preserve some advance tickets for the VIPs.

The similar scenario is also seen at different bus stations too. The anxious people bound for home are facing the same troubles.

The owners, drivers and workers of inter-district buses are now taking advantage of the crisis and situation by charging higher price for tickets.

The most piteous scenes are noticed at Kadamtali Bus Terminal. Buses of as many as 22 routes each day depart from this station.

The fares for different inter-district buses here were raised from one-and-half to twice. The tickets up to Noakhali or destinations with equal distance like Sonapur, Raipur or Chatkhil are being sold at a minimum price of Tk 130 whereas the normal price is around Tk 60 to Tk 80.

When asked about the overcharging, the bus owners and staffs said they sell tickets according to the new tariff chart of the government.

Abdul Khaleque of Balaka Express said "We sold tickets at a cheaper rate till last week but we have to raise it to keep pace with the price hike of essentials."