Almost a month into a planned drive against all unfit and unauthorised vehicles, the authorities are yet to make any emphatic move to remove such vehicles from city roads and highways across the country.
Although Communication Minister Obaidul Quader announced last month that a crackdown on unfit vehicles would start from May 1, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and other relevant authorities have extended the deadline by a month.
BRTA officials said they set the new deadline to give time to transport owners to renew fitness certificates of their vehicles.
“Although the drive against unfit vehicles was supposed to start from May 1, we have internally set it to May 31 for the owners to collect fitness certificates afresh for all kinds of unfit vehicles,” BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.
“If any motorised vehicle is found plying on the roads or highways without a fitness certificate after the deadline, tough action will be taken,” he added.
Nazrul Islam said the decision to push the deadline came from a meeting of the taskforce charged with implementing the drive.
The taskforce comprises of officials from BRTA, Roads and Highway Division, Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, the police and associations of motor vehicle owners.
The BRTA chairman also said mobile courts would continue to clamp down on unfit vehicles, and after the May 31 deadline, they will take tougher measures.
Nazrul also said action would be taken against all unauthorised transports, such as three-wheel mishuks, human haulers and battery-run rickshaws.
BRTA data show a total of 87,795 unfit motor vehicles are plying on the roads of Dhaka, posing threat to road safety and contributing to traffic congestion.
According to the vehicle registration authority, there are around 800,000 registered vehicles in the capital.
Motorcycles and bicycles, however, do not require fitness certificates to ply on city roads. On the other hand, BRTA-issued fitness certificates are mandatory for CNG auto-rickshaws, human haulers, cars, buses, trucks and other types of motor vehicles.
A Dhaka Tribune investigation found a large number of motor vehicles running on faulty brakes, with engines and bodies in poor condition. Such vehicles run on the city roads under the very nose of law enforcers and BRTA, creating traffic jams and polluting the environment.
A BRTA official, seeking anonymity, alleged that the owners of unfit vehicles had the upper hand over the authorities because of political clout.
Buses
City-dwellers look upon public buses as a more affordable mode of mass transport.
But a large number of unfit buses with faulty engines are creating congestion on busy roads. Passengers also face problems due to overcrowding, dilapidated seats and broken windows.
Despite the poor condition of the buses, passengers hardly complain because they are more concerned with getting a seat and reaching their destination.
To avert transport shortages, the road transport advisory council at a meeting on April 24 decided to give a six-month grace period to bus owners to replace their rundown vehicles.
At the time, 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. ... So, we will give six months’ time to replace them.”
Admitting that Dhaka faced transport shortages, the minister said there were only 4,000 buses operating in the city of more than 15 million people.
CNG-run auto rickshaws
At present, there are around 13,000 commercially-run green CNG auto-rickshaws and 3,000 private ones, usually painted grey, operating in the capital. In 2002, the government banned all two-stroke auto-rickshaws in urban areas and introduced the four-stroke three-wheelers, licensing them for nine years.
After the licences expired in 2011, the authorities extended them by two more years at the demand of vehicle owners.
The authorities are set to allow four more years for running the CNG vehicles, on condition that old gas cylinders and rundown bodies are replaced.
Mishuks
Unfit and illegal two-stroke mishuks, a motorcycle based three-wheeler run on petrol, continue to run on city roads without any permission or licences.
The BRTA banned 2,829 mishuks from city roads after their route permits expired on December 31, 2011.
Later, through different movements and court rulings, mishuk owners got permission to run the vehicles on condition that the two-stroke engines are replaced by four-stroke CNG ones.
The owners, however, have not taken any steps for conversion and continue to operate the vehicles illegally.
Battery-run rickshaws
A section of unscrupulous owners are running their pedal rickshaws on battery-power, flouting a ban.
Hundreds of unregistered battery-run rickshaws are plying across the capital with little or no resistance from traffic police.
The government imposed a ban on the manufacture and import of the battery-run three-wheelers as they consume a lot of electricity for recharging batteries.
Regardless of having valid licences or road permits, the owners are operating the vehicles without any fear as they have links to the ruling party, sources claimed.
Human haulers
There are around 5,000 unfit human haulers running on city roads. In 1996-97, three-wheel auto-tempos were replaced with the haulers to decrease environmental pollution.
According to BRTA, there are 3,547 registered and around 1,500 illegal human haulers plying on city roads.
