A new fleet of 30 air-conditioned buses and 500 rickshaws will hit the streets in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone from today as part of beefed up security measures in the area that witnessed Bangladesh’s worst terror attack last month.
Along with security concerns, bringing discipline into the transport system of the diplomatic zone is also an area of concern behind introduction of the system.
Once the new services are introduced, the area will be off limits to other modes of public transport.
Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq will inaugurate the services at the Gulshan Police Plaza, DNCC Executive Engineer Khandakar Mahbub Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Security has been tightened in Gulshan area since 24 people, mostly foreigners, were killed by terrorists on July 1 at an upmarket restaurant located at the heart of Dhaka’s diplomatic zone.
The plan for the new area-exclusive transportation services was chalked out when four housing societies – Niketon, Gulshan, Baridhara and Banani – sat with Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Dhaka North City Corporation to come with security strengthening measures.
The four societies are funding their own rickshaws. However, the exact amount of money needed could not be known.
Earlier, the DMP had identified seven security loopholes in the diplomatic zone including movement of rickshaws.
Rickshaw pullers to work as police informants
As many as 1,500 rickshaw pullers will be engaged in three shifts round the clock, said DNCC's Khandakar Mahbub.
The local housing society members said the selected 1,500 have been trained on security systems so that they can also act as police informants. Personal information of all the rickshaw pullers have been kept by the DMP.
“For any kind of crime, transport is a major factor. So, if the rickshaw pullers can see any occurrence happening, they can inform the police. In such a way, they will act as informer of the police on crime events,” said Shamsul Arefin, member secretary of a coordinated committee that deals with issues of the four societies.
The rickshaw pullers will have unique coloured uniform based on their area of operation. For Niketon, the uniform colour is a combination of orange and lemon, while it is orange and grey for Gulshan.
Although rickshaw pullers of both Banani and Baridhara have to wear yellow uniforms, the dresses must include logos of the respective housing societies.
Yellow rickshaws
Every single rickshaw operating in the areas, now coloured in yellow, will have retro-reflective number plates so that those can be identified easily through CCTV cameras, said Shamsul Arefin.
No rickshaws other than the yellow coloured ones will be allowed to ply in the diplomatic zone.
Number plate detectors were also set at the entry and exit points of all the housing societies, added Arefin, who is also the president of Niketon Housing Society.
For Niketon area, the numbers of the rickshaws was set from zero to 50. For Gulshan, it is 51 to 250 and 251 to 450 for Banani. The rest of the 50 rickshaws will operate in Baridhara area. The rickshaws under Baridhara Housing Society cannot operate outside their area; however, the rickshaws of the other three areas can freely move from one place to another. But, no rickshaw will be allowed to ply in the Gulshan and Banani avenues. All the rickshaws will have a fare chart based on destinations and distance. The minimum rate was fixed at Tk15 while the maximum fare will be Tk50.Buses, old and newThe public transports that were earlier operating to different areas through diversions in the diplomatic zone, will not be allowed to do so any more. Currently, many buses go through Gulshan 1, 2 and Banani to travel to other areas of the city. “Buses can only ply from Mohakhali to Gulshan 1, but have to go out through Badda link road. No bus will be allowed to move to Gulshan 2 or shooting club road. In addition, no bus can also be allowed to enter the diplomatic zone through Kamal Atartuk Avenue,” said Mosleh Uddin, joint commissioner of DMP (traffic). As for the new air-conditioned buses, they belong to Nitol-Niloy Group, owned by FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad. The lowest bus fare will be Tk15, Mahbub said.