Unfit vehicles must be removed from roads

More than one in five buses of private operators running in the capital has no valid fitness certificates. According to the data from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, 3,974 buses of 75 companies have the required route permits for operating in Dhaka city, but 871 of the buses, 21.92 per cent, do not have fitness clearances. In reality, over 120 operators run more than 5,000 buses in the capital. And many of the vehicles do not have route permits and they ply the city streets allegedly by bribing.
On October 13 last year, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said that over 1,600 unauthorised buses were operating in the city despite an ongoing drive against such buses. The issue of unauthorised buses was discussed last month at the meeting of the coordination committee tasked with bus route rationalisation and operating to buses under companies.
The government in 2019 formed a committee to rationalise bus routes and have a limited number of bus service providers. So far it has managed to launch the system in three of the 42 reshaped routes. Transport experts said unfit vehicles are risky for other fit vehicles too. Pedestrians in Dhaka are more vulnerable and such unfit vehicles increase their risk. Vehicles are causing serious environmental pollution.
Drivers know that they have a strong clout that allows them to run illegal vehicles and that is why they drive vehicles more recklessly. Most city buses operate on a “trip system”, in which the owners receive a certain amount of money for a set number of trips the drivers make. The drivers and their helpers get to keep all money earned from any trips beyond the set number. This system promotes racing on the streets, one bus cutting off another, buses blocking streets to prevent being overtaken by another bus, and picking up passengers here and there.
The students’ protest movement in 2018 compelled the government to promise to make city streets under regulations and reckless driving a punishable offense; however, the act has not been enforced due to the pressure of the political quarter. We can eco ‘We want justice’ for every accidental death that could be avoided.