Transport owners are busy giving a facelift to old and worn-out vehicles at the city's repair shops just to hide their unfitness from the eye of administration.
The proprietors are refurbishing their vehicles to make them look fit for operation only to draw homebound passengers before Eid.
The vehicles hit the roads specially to deal with the influx of passengers before the auspicous festivals. All garages are now up and passing a busy time to do the repairs to the transportation. Every garage of the capital has three to four such vehicles waiting in a queue for facelift.
Some countermen at Sayedabad bus terminal alleged that a number of bus companies sold additional tickets more than their capacity to accommodate passengers in their transport.
It was alleged that the transport companies hired the repaired buses to deal with the Eid time passengers' rush.
Visiting different garages of the capital, it was learnt that repairs to the unfit passenger vehicles were going on in the workshops of Jatrabari-Demra, Jurain, Babubazar, Keraniganj, Tangi, Gazipur, Savar and Nobinagar areas.
The repairmen are working round the clock to complete the repairs and deliver the vehicles to their owners before August 2.
Sources said around 15,000 buses would leave Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Sayedabad bus terminals ahead of Eid festival.
Shahabuddin, owner of three worn-out buses plying on Dhaka-Gazipur route, told the Dhaka Tribune he was giving his buses a facelift at a workshop in Keraniganj.
These vehicles were mainly reserved for carrying homebound passengers to districts before Eid festivals, he added.
Asked about the risk of using such unfit buses, he said they had been doing such practice for years and no harm befell them so far. Seeking annonimity, an official of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority told the Dhaka Tribune transport owners cashed in on the Eid time passengers' rush in collusion with some administrative officials.
The plying of such vehicles not only created traffic jam on highways but also led to road accidents during Eid festivals, he added.
Contacted, Iqbal Hossain, deputy commissioner of traffic of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they had already instructed all traffic departments to take stern action if any worn-out vehicles were found plying on the streets.
In this regard, Khondokar Enayet Ullah Khan, general secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers' Union, said they had some complaints every year that some bus companies sold additional tickets before Eid more than their capacity and transported passengers to their destinations later by the repaired vehicles.
"We are concerned about such practices every year and our members and monitoring team will be deployed at terminals to take action against such transport companies," he added.