The 43-year-old ‘Lakkar Jhakkar’ bus was plying on the road without fitness. The wrecked car was bought and some repairs were done and brought down on the Chittagong-Kaptai road in the name of Shah Amanat Paribahan. No fitness, no tax certificate – this is how the bus was roaming on the road. Two students of Chittagong University of Engineering (CHUET) were killed on Monday after being hit by this vehicle.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), more than 70 thousand of the total registered vehicles plying in Chittagong city and district are unfit. The total number of registered vehicles is 4 lakh 56 thousand. Most of these unregistered or unfit vehicles are plying on the road. 261 people were killed in 322 accidents in Chittagong division in the last three months. Apart from this, 60 people died in an accident during Eid in Chittagong in April.
Shah Amanat Paribahan Service was started with about 30 vandalized vehicles on the Chittagong-Kaptai road a year ago. The motorcycle of Chuet students was hit by a bus in Rangunia Jayanagar area of Kaptai road on Monday.
Along with bus-trucks, CNG-powered auto-rickshaws are not less powerful on the two-lane road. More than 15 thousand registered and unregistered autorickshaws ply here. These unregistered vehicles become legal in token-trading.
When asked what the concerned authorities are doing to prevent this anarchy on the road, Deputy Director of BRTA Chittagong Syed Ainul Huda Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that there is a regular mobile court against unfit vehicles. But it is not possible every day. For this, other organizations on the road should play a role in law enforcement.
