The roads and highways of the country have become guardianless. As more than one ministry has been involved in road maintenance, irregularities and mismanagement have become the norm. The roads and highways are in chaos everywhere. The chaotic condition of the roads in the capital Dhaka is at an extreme level. Even at the district-upazila level; The unfit Lakkar-Jhakkar bus is running in great splendor in the capital Dhaka. Law enforcement officers extorting money in the name of vehicle license-fitness checks; Bus owner-drivers are driving illegal and unfit and expired vehicles keeping the police happy. According to various sources, more than 5 lakh unfit, expired vehicles are plying on the roads across the country. 3,500 buses and minibuses are now transporting passengers on the roads of the capital Dhaka. Half of which are unfit. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) does not have an estimate of the number of unfit vehicles in the capital. However, BRTA Chairman Noor Mohammad Majumder said that a strict operation has been decided to stop unfitness buses. Strict operation will start from next June 1. No vehicle without fitness will run on the road. We will assume it is unfit only if it expires. Unfit vehicles will be dumped. Transport experts say unfit vehicles should be banned from all routes. However, as the demand for buses on the routes where Metrorail has gone down, unfit vehicles on these routes should be stopped now. If the initiative taken by BRITA is successful, the chaos on the roads will be reduced.
Transport expert and professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering (BUET). Shamsul Haque said that there is no person related to public transport to restore order in public transport. Those who are supposed to take care of these are not performing their proper responsibilities. If there is no meditation and knowledge to solve the traffic problem on the road, then the road will not be orderly. Hatirjheel has well organized public transport within Dhaka. Serves by standing in line at the bus stop. Does not warp, does not scratch, has value. So if the officials want to restore order on the road, it is possible. Stopping the movement of unfit and expired vehicles on the roads solves half the problem.
Anarchy in the public transport sector all over the country is not stopping. Nagar Paribahan was launched to restore order to the capital’s public transport. He is now dying. E-ticketing system was introduced to reduce bus fare anarchy. Now this method is not accepted. Bus stops, passenger shelters were made for boarding and alighting of bus passengers on the road. But the bus no longer stops at these places. The bus stops in the middle of the road. Passengers are transported on the road. Passenger boarding and alighting is prohibited on the flyovers, but buses are stopped there to board and alight passengers. The capital’s road junctions are not yet safe. Passenger and cargo vehicles are parked for a long time at road junctions. Long queues of vehicles are formed at the junctions due to buses stopping for a long time and passengers boarding and alighting. City dwellers are affected by traffic jams.
Currently, the number of unfit and expired vehicles in the country is more than 5 lakh. 70 percent of these vehicles are plying on the roads, which poses a major threat to the safety of the country’s transport system, according to regulatory body Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Of the 5 lakh unfit and expired vehicles, 30 percent do not ply on the roads. The remaining 70 percent is creating a major crisis in the safety of the country’s transportation system. They seize unfit vehicles on the road and send them for dumping.
According to BRTA’s calculations, 5 lakh 78 thousand 151 vehicles were registered in the country in 2022. In 2023, this number has decreased to 360 thousand 861. That is, the registration of 2 lakh 17 thousand 290 vehicles in the country has decreased in one year. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) does not have an accurate count of the actual number of unfit vehicles plying in the capital.
From June 1, no Rangchata and Lakkar-Jhakkar buses will be able to ply on the roads of Dhaka. At the same time, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has decided to conduct an operation with the Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association to stop the movement of unfit vehicles on the capital’s roads. There were 528 unfit vehicles from 39 companies in the capital. 257 of these have been fixed. However, BRTA has the urge to submit this list in complete form to the Ministry of Environment. Chairman of the organization Noor Mohammad ordered to submit the list of all buses and minibuses plying on Dhaka roads and the names of their owners to BRTA by May 30.
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), more than 25 thousand crore rupees are lost in road accidents every year. If it is calculated as a percentage, it is more than 1.5 percent of the total GDP. It’s just a financial calculation. If one working person of a family dies, then the whole family is ruined.
Noor Mohammad Majumdar warned of dumping if found a car without fitness, said the road permit of the car must be up to date. We will do whatever we need to do for that. In no way can a vehicle without a route permit and not fit on the road. In this case, the drivers will provide us with the kind of support they need, we will provide you the maximum support sensitively. But if someone comes on the road with an unfit car, we will send it straight to the dumping station if we catch it. But here there will be no fines, fines are not very useful. We will give time if necessary. If the documents are not updated within that time, we will delete the vehicle from the system.
General Secretary of Awami League and Minister of Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader has commented that the unfit Lakkar-Jhakkar buses plying in the capital shame the development and achievements of Bangladesh. The bridge minister said that there are many factories of Lakkar-Jhakkar cars in this city. I visited myself. I saw the paint. Color that fades after 10 days. There is no color. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken Bangladesh to the heights of achievement and development, the buses in the capital of the country cannot be looked at. It shames our development, achievements. These cars move in front of your eyes. Our country has come so far, and our cars look poor. Color is useless without fitness. I want a solution from the leaders. It can’t go on like this.
On the surface, it can be seen that most of the buses are running in the capital. Passengers in these buses have to suffer constantly. Some buses are so shiny that outside sunlight easily penetrates inside. This adds to the suffering of passengers in the heat. Most of the passengers traveling in Dhaka’s public transport are suffering from severe heat wave. Traffic congestion, poor condition of public transport, less distance from one seat to another seat, piled passengers have increased the suffering of public transport passengers. Women, children and the elderly are traveling at risk. The top roof of some buses is also broken, through which the intense sun easily enters inside. Many buses do not even have fans. Even in buses that have fans, one is on and the other is useless.
Passengers said that the traffic is running on the road. They were forced to move on the road. They hope that the government will look into the buses. It is unimaginable that a bus plying in the capital of a country can be so noisy. We have been making a lot of progress in recent times. However, the government does not care about how our city dwellers are moving.
A responsible officer of the Road Transport Owners Association said that letters have been given to the general owners for repairing and beautifying the buses plying in Dhaka. He said, we have given the letter signed by the general secretary of the owner association to the general owners at least 24-25 times. The meetings are also attended. We have told the owners that the buses must be repaired. Beauty should be enhanced. When repaired, beauty will increase; But then the passengers will get relief in movement. The owner association is working towards that goal. It is actually an ongoing process. Some buses are repaired. After a few days, if they are taken down on the road, they will have a shiny appearance.
Experts say that despite the huge expenditure on infrastructure development, ensuring vehicle fitness and driver’s license, stopping reckless driving of vehicles and workers taking drugs, using safety equipment, eliminating road defects, stopping illegal traffic – these could not be ensured at all. As a result, accidents did not decrease. There are currently more than five lakh vehicles plying illegally on the country’s roads, which do not have up-to-date fitness certificates. If Dhaka’s roads are to be made orderly, projects must be implemented in an integrated framework to reduce the chaos of transport by investing in an orderly manner. Bus fare anarchy. Passenger-Contractor Argument.
Leaders of Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association said that 3,500 buses and minibuses are transporting passengers on Dhaka roads now, which is less than the requirement. Now if 1 to 1500 vehicles are kept until they are fully fit, then the public transport crisis in the city will intensify. The owners will also suffer a financial loss of 1 to 1.5 lakh taka. Chairman sat with various bus owners including Dhaka Bus Owners Association. BRTA wants no unfit, broken down buses on the roads of Dhaka. Owners asked for time. In that context, time has been given till May 31. All buses will be fixed in the meantime. Owners Association will supervise these.
Secretary General of Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said that there are now 500,000 unfit cars running across the country. To build a smart Bangladesh, public transport must be smart. There is no alternative to smart public transport. The quality of public transport should be improved. The government lacks goodwill. Everything is possible if the government wants. Likewise, if the government wants, it is possible to stop unfit public transport on the road.
