Private bus owners pay Tk 1,059cr in bribes annually: TIB

Staff Reporter :
Private bus operators have to pay at least Tk 1,059 crore in bribes annually, according to research by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

Among the major private bus companies’ owners, around 92 per cent are involved with the political parties while 80 per cent are involved with the ruling Awami League party.

The research also shows that 60.5 per cent passengers claimed that the buses are charging extra fare.

A section of unscrupulous Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials and staffers, police, transport associations, staffers of city corporations and municipalities and people affiliated with political parties realise the bribe and ransom, it said.

The TIB revealed the findings of the research at a press conference at its Dhanmondi office in Dhaka on Thursday.

To overcome the challenges in the sector, TIB presented a 15-point charter of recommendations.

The TIB research report shows that control of the transport business by the ruling party members and its patronised quarter is at the centre of rampant corruption and irregularities in the bus transport sector, reads a press release.

Most of the leaders of the owners’ associations in the sector are associated with the ruling party. The 22 companies (13.1 percent of the total number of companies), included in TIB’s study, own 81.4 percent of the bus transport business.

Almost 92 per cent members of the board of directors of these large bus companies are directly affiliated with the ruling party (80 percent) and other political parties (12 percent).

They have monopolised authority in the owners’ and workers’ associations alongside creating impediments in law formulation and implementation by capturing policy mechanisms, thus taking the sector hostage.

Mentioning political patronage and role of syndicates as the root causes of irregularities and corruption in the bus transport sector, TIB Executive Director (ED) Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, “The private bus transport business is entirely plagued by irregularities and corruption.

Its root cause is the collusion between bus owners’ and workers’ associations, empowered by political patronage.”

“According to our research, almost 92 percent of the bus owners are associated with political parties, of whom 80 per cent are from the ruling political party and 12 percent are from other parties.

As a result, despite expectations centering the transport sector that it would become a public-friendly one, in reality, it has been held hostage by the owners’ and workers’ associations, and their syndicate is taking undue advantage of this hostage situation.

The hostage situation is so severe that the owners and workers, due to their collision, seem more powerful than the government. The government is failing in implementing its own laws and regulations to control corruption and irregularities in the private bus transport sector.

Also, the expected services cannot be ensured, and at the same time, general workers in the sector are being deprived of their basic rights including a fair wage,” he added.

Criticising the role of the stakeholders associated with the transport sector, Dr. Iftekharuzzaman added, “Extortion and illegal transactions of various dimensions take place in bus transport.

The city corporations, highway police, and owners’ and workers’ associations work in collusion in this regard. The BRTA has definitely failed to discharge its specified duties, and to mask the failures the agency is giving the excuse of manpower shortage.”