On Sunday afternoon, Minister of Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader announced that controversial former naval transport minister and Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation Executive President Shajahan Khan will chair a 15-member parliamentary committee to control road accidents.
Obaidul also said a second committee was also formed comprising Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujon, and Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq to draft a road transport law.
The two committees will have to submit their reports within 14 working days.
MP Shajahan Khan was a divided figure during his tenure as a minister due to his dual role as a transport workers’ leader and a minister, which was frequently cited as a conflict of interest whenever transport reforms were discussed.
In August 2018, after two schoolchildren were run over by a bus on the Airport Road, several reporters asked the former minister about the lax regulations for bus drivers being a huge factor for road accidents, which the minister appeared to laugh off.
When a video of him laughing off the deaths of two went viral on the internet, there were widespread calls for his resignation, soon followed by a spontaneous protest by students demanding road safety.