Staff Reporter :
An influential section of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity (BSPMS) has been allegedly collecting extortion over crores of taka per month for a long time from the transport sector, leading to ongoing crises and crimes on roads and highways.
Transport owners, workers and drivers have become helpless as they are bound to pay the unauthorized money as per their demands, virtually making the transport sector hostage to the section, inside sources said.
To meet the huge demand of extortion money, the bus drivers and conductors of over 1,600 buses and 90,000 trucks and lorries are making extra charges from passengers ignoring the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) approved fare chart, they added. Even the drivers join the unfair competition of collecting more money by conducting extra trips leading to reckless driving and over-taking.
Besides, the bus owners opt for temporary staff hands as drivers and helpers pushing up the rate of accidents and finally ending in killings of people on roads amid chaotic traffic system.
A study said that at least 87 per cent buses and minibuses ply on the roads in the capital recklessly violating of traffic rules, creating anarchy in the transport sector,
Seeking anonymity, a transport leader told The New Nation, “No wheel runs without paying the extortion to toll collectors back by the influential quarters.”
Some transport owners alleged that the transport system would never be risky-free if this sector could not be freed from this transport gang.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, Secretary General of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, alleged, “Management in the road sector has deteriorated severely due to huge extortion.”
Bus owners often lease out their vehicles to the drivers, who indulge in rash driving and operate as many trips as possible just to maximize profit. In this situation, drivers are least bothered about road discipline, he said.
He also noted that because of unscrupulous contractors with political links, roads and highways have fallen into disrepair.
Mir Rezaul Alam, Additional Commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, has said usually there is a tendency among the drivers to violate traffic rules and drive recklessly. They also get engaged in unhealthy competition and pick passengers here and there for earning more money, he added.
