Even though two months have passed since the government issued a gazette notification ordering the reconditioning of all decade-old CNG-run auto-rickshaws, the owners have yet to start the process to validate their vehicles for city roads.
The gazette, published in June, ordered the reconditioning of old auto-rickshaws from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) to allow an extension to their lifespan for operating in the capital.
However, Buet experts only received their first batch of four CNG-run auto-rickshaws for scrutiny on Saturday.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Dhaka Metropolitan CNG Auto-rickshaw Malik Samity Oikya Parishad President Barkat Ullah Bhulu said: “We have just started the reconditioning of the auto-rickshaws by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) today.
“We have brought over four auto-rickshaws to see how much time will be required for reconditioning each vehicle.”
Responding to a question, Bhulu said the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) had given time until this October 31 to estimate how much time would be needed to complete the reconditioning of all the auto-rickshaws.
He also said: “After working on the first four samples, our Buet experts will be able to estimate the time required for the task.”
The government had been compromising with the demands of the CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners in the face of threats of non-stop strikes. Finally, the government was forced to relax the rules in its gazette notification regarding the lifespan extension of existing auto-rickshaws in Dhaka and Chittagong after a demand was made to revise it.
There are around 13,000 commercially run green auto-rickshaws, and 3,000 private ones, usually painted grey, running in the capital. The lifespan of most auto-rickshaws expired in January this year.
Md Faridul Islam Khasru, general secretary of Dhaka Mahanagar CNG Auto-Rickshaw Malik Samity, said: “The communications ministry has directed BRTA to collect data on how much time would be needed to overhaul all CNG auto-rickshaws.”
“Now only 4 to 5 months are left till the end of the 12th year and it is not possible to overhaul the engines of all vehicles within this short period,” he added.
Earlier in June, the government added four more years to the lifespan of CNG-run auto-rickshaws in Dhaka and Chittagong, which had already passed 11 years of operation, and published a gazette notification upon six specific conditions for reconditioning the auto-rickshaws.
The conditions included ensuring the fitness of the existing CNG-run auto-rickshaws, full engine overhauls by the 12th year, change of hood-covers, repainting the body, and upgrading suspension, breaks, transmission and other parts of the vehicle.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam said: “The deadline for reconditioning CNG-run auto-rickshaws after its 12th year will be fixed as per the recommendations of Buet experts.”
“If the auto-rickshaw owners do not recondition their vehicles within the deadline, steps will be taken against them,” he warned.
