CITY’S Malibagh and its surrounding areas turned into a battlefield on Tuesday as garments workers were locked in clashes with police, vandalised about 100 vehicles and set fire to two buses following the death of a co-worker and her relative in a road crash there. It occurred when a Gazipur-bound bus of “Suprovat Paribahan” hit the girls near Malibagh Rail crossing, said Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. The clash left over a dozen people injured, including Nazmun Nahar, an Additional Deputy Commissioner of DMP.
What we see that, taking lives on road by untrained drivers’ reckless driving continue unabated. The movement of unfit vehicles is going on allegedly due to relaxed mood of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and law enforcement agencies. Nor the BRTA or the transport owners could yet arrange training facilities for the existing drivers. Even so, The BRTA issued and renewed 19 lakh driving licences till August last year against about 35 lakh registered automobiles. The number has undoubtedly increased in the meantime.
The road accident was also one of the most discussed issues in the previous year. The authorities had to tackle untoward situation after two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College were killed due to reckless driving. After that, Prime Minister had issued several directives to modify the infrastructural facilities and bring the countrywide road transport under a coordinated system. But nothing has so far changed, and the situation remained the same. The unfit vehicles with heavily dented bodies are still running on roads, buses are making stoppage in freestyle ignoring the stoppages and bays, motorcycles and cars are parked on footpaths and pedestrians are also violating traffic rules.
Though the government on September 20 last year passed the Road Transport Act, 2018 replacing the Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983; the law awaits implementation. We must say, the road safety and a disciplined public transport system should be most prioritized work of the government in this new year. We’ve no other alternative but to work seriously to bring discipline in road transport sector along with reducing the road accidents.
