NCC admin holds meeting with media
The Administrator of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), Advocate Sakhawat Hossain Khan, held a discussion meeting with editors and journalists on various urban issues, including city development, improvement of civic services, resolving the hawker problem, and reducing traffic congestion.
At the meeting, he announced that traffic congestion would be managed by introducing digital plates and ID cards for auto-rickshaw drivers, along with strict monitoring.
He also stated that hawkers on Bangabandhu Road would soon be evicted and later rehabilitated.
However, priority in both cases will be given to residents who are registered voters within the city corporation. The meeting was held on Saturday (March 28) in the hallroom of the City Corporation building.
Sakhawat Hossain Khan said, “Those of you present here are among the most powerful voices. Not only in Bangladesh but globally, there are three pillars of the state executive, judiciary, and legislature.
Media is considered the fourth pillar. Its role is extremely important. I assure you that your opinions will be given priority. We want to remove hawkers from main roads and also solve the auto-rickshaw issue.”
He added, “We initially thought about 7,500 auto-rickshaw licenses had been issued, but after coming here, we found nearly 18,000 licenses. This small city cannot handle such a large number.
Upon review, I found that many middlemen have taken 200-300 licenses each. I do not want to allow this. Each road will have a fixed number of licensed vehicles. Only three-wheelers will be allowed on certain roads. We will implement a ‘one ID, one vehicle’ system.”
He further said that a prototype of the digital system has already been prepared. “Each driver will carry a digital card, and our staff will have scanners to verify authenticity. If someone else drives using another person’s license, that license will be canceled.”
Regarding hawkers and auto-rickshaw drivers, he noted that around 95% of them are from outside the district and are not voters of Narayanganj. “My personal decision is to give priority to city voters. We will also introduce monitoring on every road to prevent outside auto-rickshaws from entering the city.
As for hawkers, we want to quickly clear Bangabandhu Road and gradually make all roads hawker-free. However, hawkers are also citizens of this country, so we will attempt to rehabilitate them but only those who are residents of the city corporation.”
He added, “Over the past 15 years, we have seen eviction drives fail due to resistance from certain groups. This time, such obstacles are less likely, as they are no longer in key leadership positions.”
He also mentioned that all local public representatives share the same mindset.
“Before leaving for Umrah, our MP instructed us to focus on these issues. After his return, he will sit with me. The district council administrator and other officials are also in agreement that the problems of hawkers and auto-rickshaws must be resolved. Journalists can play a strong role in achieving this.”
