Crackdown on unfit vehicles

Staff Reporter :Bangladesh Road Transport Authority [BRTA] on Wednesday launched a massive drive against the unfit vehicles in the city roads in the wake of fatal traffic mishaps on the roads and highways.It was the second consecutive day of BRTA drive after the High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to stop plying of unfit vehicles within 30 days and confiscates reported 18 lakh fake driving licenses.According to BRTA, nearly 33 per cent of the registered 2.2 million motorised vehicles across the country run without any fitness certificate. In Dhaka city, 50 per cent vehicles have no fitness certificate. Not only that, many of the city-route buses have expired 20 years of age and some of them have not got legal documents for plying the roads.”We have assigned special mobile courts at different points in the capital to conduct drive against the unfit vehicles and drivers. The drive will continue, as many of the vehicles have been plying without proper document and fitness,” BRTA chairman Md Nazrul Islam said.He said, “The mobile teams are working with magistrates to track the unfit vehicles and their drivers in the city. Besides, all the district administrations and police across the country are also going to start special drives against the unfit vehicles.””Four drivers were awarded seven days jail for not keeping driving licenses on Wednesday. Several were fined up to Tk 15,000 for holding fake driving licenses and unfit vehicles. Besides, about 13 cases were filed and three busses dumped due to their dilapidated condition,” he said.But there is widespread allegation that the authorities still could not start a coordinated drive against the law-breakers till the date due to reasons known best to them. At present, the state-run organization is allegedly conducting isolated eye-wash operations. The rickety buses and trucks which cause accident, damage of road and traffic jam will be off from the road during the drive, they said.But many made a comeback in the late afternoon turning the city streets again into a sea of motorized vehicles like the previous days.Deputy Commissioner Traffic [east] said that they strengthened their drive against the unfit and illegal vehicles on instructions from the government.Meanwhile, the city dwellers suddenly saw themselves in a state of perplexity while a number of passengers were seen hanging like bats holding gate handles of buses and minibuses. Many passengers at different points, including Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Pallabi, Kalyanpur, Mohammadpur, Jatrabari, Uttara, Rampura and Badda, claimed that they saw few buses and auto-rickshaws plying the city roads. The sudden disappearance of the unfit public transports resulted in untold sufferings on way to their destinations.Taking the advantage of limited bus movement in the morning, auto-rickshaw and rickshaw drivers charged extra fares from the passengers, especially those who had no option but to reach their destinations at any cost.”I’m waiting for 45 minutes on the queue, but yet to get a bus to go to Gulistan. All the buses and minibuses are now hiding. The owners have suspended their trips towards the city for fear of getting caught,” said Abidur Rahim, a banker, at Pallabi bus-stoppage at 1:50pm.Experts, however, questioned the fitness of those transports, mostly buses and trucks, which obtained BRTA fitness certificates through illegal means and risking threat of accidents.They said, the drive against three-wheelers on the highways would not bring any good result, if the unskilled drivers with fake licenses are not traced.