Despite a government plan to crack down on unfit vehicles in the capital from next month, owners of public transports will get six more months to replace their rundown vehicles to avert transport shortages.
The decision was taken by the road transport advisory council yesterday at a meeting, held at the communication ministry’s conference room.
After the meeting, Communication Minister Obaidul Quader, who heads the council, said, “Although we have taken a decision to withdraw all unfit public transports, it would not be possible to remove all at one time. That would affect the transport sector.”
Admitting that Dhaka faced shortages of public transport, the minister said the number of buses in the city had fallen to 4,000 from 7,000.
The capital is home to more than 15 million people, according to official statistics.
“We should remove unfit vehicles from the city after arranging adequate replacements. So, we will give six months’ time to replace them,” the minister said, adding, “We will ensure that unfit transports do not run in the city after that time.”
The council also decided to form a taskforce to implement its decisions.
The taskforce, to be led by the chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, will monitor and take necessary steps to remove unfit vehicles and evict illegal occupiers from city roads to ease traffic problems.
Quader said the authorities would start a drive in the city from next month to prevent accidents, remove unfit transports, eliminate traffic congestions and evict illegal occupiers.
At present, the system is dually controlled by the police and the two city corporations.
The operation of traffic signals would get easier under DMP’s control, Quader said.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, State Minister for Cooperatives Mashiur Rahman Ranga, transport leaders and members of law enforcement agencies attended the meeting.