From 2001-2007, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) registered 13,000 CNG-run auto-rickshaws in the capital. The economic life of these vehicles was considered to be 15 years. After expiry, terming the auto-rickshaws risky, the BRTA in 2018 started scrapping these vehicles step by step after issuing a notification. The owners of these scrap vehicles were given new registration from the BRTA.
BRTA sources claim that all the expired auto-rickshaws have already been scrapped. Moreover, around 12,500 vehicles from 2001-07 have been replaced.
However, in the name of scrapping, replacing, and extending the expiry term of these CNG auto-rickshaws, some BRTA officials, in connivance with the leaders of the Dhaka Metropolitan CNG Auto-rickshaw Owners Association, received bribes and extortion worth around Tk112.75 crore, according to a complaint lodged with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) by Mohammad Hanif Khokon, general secretary of Dhaka's Auto-Rickshaw Workers Union.
What was wrong with the process?
As per the rules, there is no provision for paying any charge for scrapping the expired auto-rickshaws. But the owners said they were forced to pay Tk30,000-1,00,000 for each vehicle. Moreover, the owners were not allowed to remove the parts of the scrapped vehicles, though the BRTA notice mandated the owners to do so.
Instead, the BRTA officials in question and owners’ association Convener Barkat Ullah Bhulu and Secretary ATM Nazmul Hasan sold the scrapped auto-rickshaws each for Tk10,000.
Moreover, the owners had to pay a bribe of Tk25,000 after depositing a fee of Tk14,000 in the bank to re-register the scrapped auto-rickshaws.
The gang engaged their close associates as brokers in various areas of Dhaka for the re-registration and scrapping work. These brokers used to collect bribe money from the owners and hand it over to the top leaders of the owners’ association. Later, the association leaders shared the bribes and extorted money with the BRTA officials and the brokers.
BRTA Accountant Khan Mohammad Ruhul Amin, who has been working in Metro Circle-1 for 16 years, oversees all accounts of BRTA's bribery and extortion, according to the complaint.
Despite being involved in illegal activities, Ruhul Amin was promoted recently. He previously worked on new and old licences, transfers of ownership, and road permits. While in that position, in 2016-17, he took money from 13,000 auto-rickshaw owners, claiming that he would extend the tenure of the vehicles from 15 years to 20 years, and took Tk5,000 in five phases. In 2016 and 2017, various national dailies published news about this.
Workers union General Secretary Hanif Khokon said that, on February 6, the Dhaka Autorickshaw-Autotempu Workers Federation filed a complaint with the state minister of public administration and the secretary of the Roads and Highways Department for the transfer of BRTA official Ruhul Amin.
Even after that, Ruhul Amin has been running the bribery business through brokers in the BRTA office.
Hanif Khokon said: “We have complained to the ACC. I hope that the ACC will get all the evidence if it looks at these issues seriously.”
What the accused say
Contacted, BRTA official Ruhul Amin refused to make any comment regarding the allegations over the phone but challenged this reporter to see his activities in person.
On the other hand, owner’s association Convener Barkat Ullah Bhullu claimed that the allegations were completely false.
"Rather, we told BRTA officials to destroy the expired vehicles using its bulldozers. We are not also involved in the registration process,” he said.