Customers suffering from the violence of the brokers at Agargaon passport office
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photo: Barta24
When you go for a walk, you get bumped. There is no relief even if you stand. There is no relief in the question of 'new or old' even in tea shops. I don't want to be alone even with the hot sun on my head. Throwing the question, "Brother said, get passport first"!
I was talking about the Dhaka divisional passport office located in Agargaon. The violence of the brokers is so much that except for one line of passport collection, the rest is like a 'broker road'. They are coming forward in the name of help, grabbing money with eloquence.
On Tuesday (September 24) on the surface, the passport office was seen for about three hours. During this time, brokers can be seen on the road in front of the passport office, tea shop and photocopy shop, the main gate of the passport office and on the ground floor designated for submitting passport files.
It can be seen that the service seekers have to face some broker when they enter the passport office. The broker comes and asks whether help is needed, new passport or old passport, whether the documents are in order, if it can be done quickly, various questions like that. Cheating is also taking advantage of the helplessness of many people.
It is known that an organized ring of brokers lures the service seekers who come to the Agargaon passport office to fill the form, verify the form, deposit the fee in the bank and provide missing documents, wrong or fake documents. They are harassing passport aspirants by promising to solve all problems.
Candidates are also offered passports without any police verification for an additional 5 to 6 thousand takas. In this way money is grabbed by various attractive offers. Passport aspirants are harassed by temptation.
One such is Dulal Mia (pseudonym). Married for almost seven years, but the status in the passport has not changed. This time, in the renewal application, the marital status has been changed from single to married. But he got into trouble for not bringing Nikahnama. The passport officer did not submit his file.
Dulal Mia told Barta24.com, "A broker gave a married certificate with five hundred takas, but he is not taking deposits inside. Says Nikahnama will be needed. Now I am looking for that broker, I will have to take back five hundred takas.
Another customer, who did not wish to be named, reacted angrily to police verification when he came to renew his passport. He said, "I am correcting the spelling of Chowdhury in my passport along with the ID card. My passport is valid till December this year. This also said that police verification will be required.
Threatening to put a coordinator if it is not correct, he further said, 'I made it so that police verification is not required while the term is still there. I have traveled to 14 European countries so far. That's why I'm coming today and then I'll be the coordinator.
Talking to some other service users who came to Dhaka Divisional Passport Office, they also showed such angry reactions. Many of them complain that the new government is coming but nothing is getting right. Brokers are still roaming openly like before, nobody is watching. Ansar members themselves are chatting with brokers, what else will be right there!
Talk to a broker anonymously. He offered to pay 1000 taka to the question of what can be done now if the passport is allowed to be corrected. If he gives the money, he will inform you about the status of the passport and how much money it will take to get the passport. However, if he does not want to pay in advance, the broker is stuck.
Later talked about the same with another broker named Arif. If asked whether to do the work today, the broker assured that the work would be done tomorrow. However, Arif clarified that it would take 10,000 and it would take a week. According to him, if you submit all the documents today (Tuesday), then everything will be done within a week. Come next Tuesday or Wednesday and take the passport.
When asked when the money should be paid, Arif said, when the paper is submitted, the money should be paid only then. If you want to pay money after getting your passport, he said, you can pay a maximum 1/2 thousand less now. The remaining amount must be paid today. Otherwise it will not work. If you want to do it tomorrow, leave your contact number.
Dhaka Divisional Passport and Visa Office Deputy Director when asked by Ismail Hossain, he said, 'Why do you go to the broker? Brokers are taking 10/20/40/50 thousand from each. If I return 300 people out of 1200 people, 30 people return... I am not returning to anyone. As a result, why would you come as a broker?
In response to the question that the brokers are standing in line. Ismail Hossain said, 'Is the one who was standing up crippled? He is not made to stand in front of others, but is made to stand behind, so is he crippled that he should stand by his (broker) hand? He asks the one who is coming through a broker 'why he is coming through a broker'.
Later, when Ansar members on duty were also involved with brokers, he called Ansar APC and ordered them to take action. Meanwhile, Ansar APC Ferdous Ahmed identified two Ansar members after seeing the picture. One of them being a member of the battalion Ansar said to inform the battalion Ansar. Ferdous also said that another Ansar member named Afzal Hossain will be immediately removed from the main gate and assigned to another duty and he will be reprimanded.
