AGARTALA, July 12 (TIWN): Despite being recognized as second busiest destination of northeast, people of Agartala have continued to face hardship in travelling outside the state due to poor regulation and surveillance on travel means.

According to official record, at least 12 –flights have been taking off from Agartala airport every day and about 1200 passengers are travelling out daily but there is no surveillance on ticketing by the local vendors.

Report said, as many as 235 travel agents are operating in Agartala alone over the year and every week at least one ticket vendor is adding to the list.

At least 16 cases of stretcher patient are travelling outside the state almost every month due to poor treatment facilities in the state but interestingly neither the health nor the transport department do not take in step to ensure facilitating the patient parties to procure air tickets.

As a result, as soon as the hospital referred any case to outside Tripura immediately the information peculated down the travel agents through hospital sources and ticket have been selling at Rs 40,000-70,000 for each stretcher patients at commission deal and patient party got victim of the circumstance.

It is also observed over the year because of poor market regulation and enforcement, a section of travel agents – five big dealers of Agartala having a rapport with top of the administration purchased bulk tickets even of entire tickets of 5-6 flights together during admission session in outside colleges and universities, summer, Durga puja and winter holiday when there is high demand of air tickets.

Interestingly, the government officials in most of the cases buying tickets from outside travel from agents at public money and it comes for their personal or family trips, the agents sponsored their air travel as token of reciprocation of curtsey of business.

An official of the administration stated that the matter was discussed in detailed at top level meeting and proposed the government to take initiative to formulate the strategy with the airlines directly and Ministry of Civil Aviation to cut down the commission business of the travel agents at least for the patients, students and poor section but it could not rolled yet.

“If a public servant served in Tripura as an obligation to earn money leaving aside the commitment to the people of the state rather oblige to safeguard interest of the state where he/she belongs to or his/her family resides or his/her children studies, so how pro-people policy and action can we be expected from them,” questioned a former bureaucrat of the state administration.

Going further in criticizing the left front government, he uttered that the left front cabinet has become full-dependent on so called smart and yes boss bureaucrats because of the limitation of the ministers and they tap the full advantage of it and as a result, except superficial talks on better connectivity the administration did not do anything so far.   

“If government wants to ensure to stop agent driven black marketing of air tickets, on time and better railway movements or people friendly bus service, it is a matter of one week but still all the initiatives are confined in meeting followed by setting out the schedule of another meeting so on and so forth,” he added.