With just a few days to go before Eid, the roads and streets of Dhaka, even the busiest and the most crowded ones, have turn into scary places for drivers of public transports because of rampant extortion by police.
Not just the vehicle drivers, even the pedestrians are not immune to this extortion.
Victims say police extort public transport drivers more or less throughout the year, but the month of Ramadan puts them into an overdrive.
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that a section of law enforcers have been extorting vehicle drivers at more than 50 points in the capital alone.
Estimates show that around 3,000 trucks, 5,000 covered vans enter and exit Dhaka through at least seven points. Additionally, around 1,200 CNG autorickshaws and 15,000 buses operate within the boundaries of the city.
On that count, police extort more than Tk5 crore every day.
Trucker Mohammad Bijoy told the Dhaka Tribune: “While carrying goods from Kawranbazar to Jatrabari, I have to pay police money in at least four places. The rates go like this – Tk100 at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, Tk100 at Tikatuli intersection, Tk50 at the Jatrabari bus stand and Tk50 at the Jatrabari intersection.”
Depending on the routes the drivers follow, money have to be paid to police at Dainik Bangla, Paltan, Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Tejgaon, Science Laboratory and Farmgate areas in the capital.
Recently, one Traffic Inspector Rafiq could be seen creating nuisance in broad daylight in the Farmgate area. He was randomly stopping vehicles and asking for money from them. If anyone refused, he would take them to the adjacent police box and keep them confined there until they paid the money demanded. Even the poor rickshaw-pullers are not spared.
A CNG autorickshaw driver Abdul said: “We remain really scared when we cross the area. The inspector [Rafiq] does not let us go unless we gave him the money. He charges at least Tk100.”
Around 12am last Friday, Al Amin, an assistant sub inspector, set up a makeshift police check-post at Dhanmondi road number 2. His main targets were motorbikes.
According to biker Zakir, even if a biker produced valid documents, the ASI would not let them go unless they paid him an amount.
Buses that ply the longer intercity routes are generally not allowed to enter the capital before 10pm. If anyone tries to enter earlier than that, they become easy targets of police extortion.
But that does not mean those who follow the 10pm-rule are spared. The only difference is that those who break the rule have to pay double the extortion.
By the time they enter the city, many have already paid Tk2,000-Tk3,000 extortion including the amounts that are squeezed out by Dhaka police.
Mahmudul Alam Montu, secretary of an association of bus and covered van owners, said: “Highway police is also involved in extortion. Their job is to provide security, but instead they take money.”
Md Ali Reza, president of another association of transport owners, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are forced to give money if we want to ply the vehicles on the roads. We cannot take any action against police.”
According to victims, a section of policemen get so desperate before Eid that they do not spare even the pedestrians.
Drubo Sen, resident of the capital’s Narinda area, said: “I work in a private farm in Tejgaon. Sometimes, I come home late.
I have faced harassment in the name of security checking by police many times. They only freed me when I gave them money. The situation gets worse before Eid.”
Pedestrians have complained about facing the same fate in other places in the capital such as Jatrabari, Sutrapur, Demra, Kamrangirchar, Mirpur, Lalbagh, Mugda and Darus Salam.
When asked whether they were aware of the situation, the police high ups never give any direct answer.
Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Media) Masudur Rahman said: “If anyone lodges specific complaint against any police official, actions would be taken immediately.”
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hasan Mahmud Khandaker told the Dhaka Tribune: “If police is involved in extortion, then no one will be saved. Last year, we introduced a special team in plainclothes to resist extortion.”
Asked if they had plans for doing the same this year as well, he said: “We will not talk about it because there are some internal issues.”