Old wine in new bottle Suprobhat now ‘Akash’

Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The owners of Suprobhat Transports Private Limited are trying to operate its buses under another company name ‘Akash Enterprise’ in Gazipur by changing colour and design of the vehicles.
Just a few days ago, the owners also tried to ply the buses on the roads in the facade of Samrat Transline (Pvt) Limited’ in view of the ban imposed by the government after killing of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) student Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury at Norda, in Dhaka, transports workers and intelligence sources said.
The Samrat operates buses between Mohakhali and Gazipur via Uttara. The proprietors also vowed to run their buses by changing name, models and routes, they said.  
Some Suprobhat buses had been painted anew and the label has been canged to ‘Akash Enterprise (Pvt) Limited’, while some others were carrying both Suprobhat and Samrat labels.
A transport workers’ leader, requesting anonymity, said that Suprobhat was changing its name and its buses being put under Akash after killing of Abrar, triggering mass protests.
Suprobhat also transport passengers from Uttara to Gazipura breaching its route permit, several transport leaders said.
The firm has several owners who are now trying to resume operations under different names, the transport leader said.
With the route permit under the name ‘Suprobhat Special Service’, it had operated bus from Uttara to Sadarghat via Rampura, according to a official of Bangladesh Road Transport authority (BRTA).
The BRTA banned Suprobhat and Jabale Noor in the capital until further notice. It has asked for papers of vehicles of these two companies for scrutiny, Shafiquzzaman Bhuiyan, a Deputy Director at BRTA, said.
The BRTA granted a route permit to Suprobhaat Paribahan to carry passengers from Gazipur’s Board Bazar to Dhaka’s Sadarghat. But it extended its route at Gazupura in Gazipur Metropolitan. An influential leader of the transport sector was the mastermind of it. BRTC gave on the road, according to him.
Around 90 percent buses of Suprobhat Paribahan had been operating without having necessary clearances that include route permits, fitness certificates and professional licences of the drivers, he added.
Only 18 out of 163 buses of the company have all the required documents that are valid, as per him.
Referring to a question of this correspondent about the colour and name change of the buses, a supervisor of the Suprobhat Paribahan at Tongi station road area, said: “Owners can say better.”
Monir Hossain, a supervisor of Suprobhat at Tongi Station Road, said he knew nothing about the transfer of the buses.
Nahid Mia, an Assistant Commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police’s traffic department, said there is no bar on transferring buses from one company to another if the procedure is done as per law.
BUP student Abrar was killed by a bus of Suprobhat Transport in the city on April 20 while two college students were run over and killed by a bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan on May 29 last year, triggering an unprecedented agitation for safe roads.