Staff Reporter :
As per the High Court (HC) order, special drive against the plying of unfit vehicles in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country continued for the second consecutive day on Thursday.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) began the special drive against the unfit vehicles and vehicles from Wednesday and it would continue until the traffic jams and road accidents are brought to a tolerable limit, said Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader to The New Nation on Thursday.
On Thursday, Mashiur Rahman, Magistrate of mobile court of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, began the drive from near the Gulistan area in city. The drive was also conducted in front of Dhania College in city.
During the drive, the mobile court seized four buses from the Gulistan area. As soon as the drive began, the number of transports marked a sharp fall on the city roads causing untold sufferings to the commuters.
“Such sudden decision can’t bring any good for the city residents. Rather it is intensifying sufferings to them,” Nazmul Ahmed, a banker, told journalists.
Talking to this reporter, a driver said, the on-going drive is against the public transports only.
“But the BRTA remains salience against the unfit private cars,” he said.
However, Mashiur Rahman, Magistrate of mobile court, said the drive is not against the public transports.
“As per HC instruction, we are conducting the drive against all sorts of unfit vehicles and vehicles without license. The drive will continue until the removal of the present chaotic situation from the roads,” replying to a query, he said.
On August 3, the HC asked the authority concerned to take all necessary steps to stop plying of unfit vehicles throughout the country. The court also ordered to confiscate around 19 lakh fake driving licences and to take legal actions against those using the fake papers.
Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday said, the government is determined to overcome big challenges and difficulties in a bid to restore discipline on highways and roads across the country.
“No metro rail will be able to reduce road accident and ease the traffic congestion if discipline is not restored on roads and high ways,” he told journalists after inaugurating a foot over bridge at Fazilpur in Feni district on Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
He said the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) run three-wheelers will be able to take gas from the filling station situated on the highways from 6am to 8am.
“But they would not be allowed to carry passengers during taking gas from highway side filling station,” the Road Transport and Bridges Minister said.
