‘Round-the-year drive against unfit vehicles to bring success’
UNB, Dhaka :
The drive against unfit vehicles is necessary, but the way it is conducted across the country is wrong, making it a ‘futile’ exercise, say experts.
“The drive against unfit and illegal vehicles must be a round-the-year exercise. If the drive is intensified through a prior announcement, it only creates public sufferings rather than yielding any effective output as most of the faulty vehicles disappear from the streets fearing case, fine or dumping,” urban planner Prof Nazrul Islam told UNB.
Prof Nazrul Islam, a former UGC chairman, also finds corruption at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and its lack of manpower as the other reasons behind the swelling number of unfit vehicles in the country.
“The BRTA is an understaffed organisation. That’s why it needs more time to get fitness clearance from the BRTA. Besides, faulty vehicles would not have been able to manage fitness certificates if the people concerned at the BRTA had remained free from corruption,” he said.
The urban planner, however, stressed that vehicles without fitness must be stopped as those are responsible for most of the fatal accidents
across the country, but the drive should be carried out without announcement.
The government’s drive against unfit, unregistered vehicles is proving to be a failure as the number of vehicles dumped from the streets during the first two days of the drive turn out to be extremely low compared to the estimated number of unfit vehicles that exist.
Sources at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) told UNB that only 99 unfit vehicles were dumped during the first two days of their drive on November 10 and 11, though it was estimated before the drive that about 3.4 lakh vehicles were plying the roads without taking the fitness certificates.
According to BRTA statistics, nearly 21 lakh registered vehicles, including 11 lakh motorcycles, ply the roads and streets across the country after having BRTA registration.
Among those, around 3.40 lakh vehicles are plying the roads without taking fitness certificates.
The BRTA started the drive against vehicles without fitness across the country from November 10. As the announcement was made prior to starting the drive, most of the unfit vehicles went off the roads.
The BRTA sources said a total of 105 mobile court drives were conducted across the country on November 10. Only 65 unfit vehicles were dumped, 2249 cases were filed and the fine of Tk 16,71,410 was collected on the first day drive.
Besides, 21 drivers were sentenced to various jail terms on the first days of the drive.
But the number of cases reduced to 1,345 on the second day on November 11. The number of vehicles dumped as well as collection of fines also reduced on the day.
The BRTA sources said around Tk 9.33 lakh was collected as fine, while 34 vehicles were dumped and five drivers were sentenced to different jail terms by the mobile courts.
The sources noted that the dumping of vehicles and filing of cases further reduced on Thursday.
The drive against unfit vehicles is necessary, but the way it is conducted across the country is wrong, making it a ‘futile’ exercise, say experts.
“The drive against unfit and illegal vehicles must be a round-the-year exercise. If the drive is intensified through a prior announcement, it only creates public sufferings rather than yielding any effective output as most of the faulty vehicles disappear from the streets fearing case, fine or dumping,” urban planner Prof Nazrul Islam told UNB.
Prof Nazrul Islam, a former UGC chairman, also finds corruption at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and its lack of manpower as the other reasons behind the swelling number of unfit vehicles in the country.
“The BRTA is an understaffed organisation. That’s why it needs more time to get fitness clearance from the BRTA. Besides, faulty vehicles would not have been able to manage fitness certificates if the people concerned at the BRTA had remained free from corruption,” he said.
The urban planner, however, stressed that vehicles without fitness must be stopped as those are responsible for most of the fatal accidents
across the country, but the drive should be carried out without announcement.
The government’s drive against unfit, unregistered vehicles is proving to be a failure as the number of vehicles dumped from the streets during the first two days of the drive turn out to be extremely low compared to the estimated number of unfit vehicles that exist.
Sources at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) told UNB that only 99 unfit vehicles were dumped during the first two days of their drive on November 10 and 11, though it was estimated before the drive that about 3.4 lakh vehicles were plying the roads without taking the fitness certificates.
According to BRTA statistics, nearly 21 lakh registered vehicles, including 11 lakh motorcycles, ply the roads and streets across the country after having BRTA registration.
Among those, around 3.40 lakh vehicles are plying the roads without taking fitness certificates.
The BRTA started the drive against vehicles without fitness across the country from November 10. As the announcement was made prior to starting the drive, most of the unfit vehicles went off the roads.
The BRTA sources said a total of 105 mobile court drives were conducted across the country on November 10. Only 65 unfit vehicles were dumped, 2249 cases were filed and the fine of Tk 16,71,410 was collected on the first day drive.
Besides, 21 drivers were sentenced to various jail terms on the first days of the drive.
But the number of cases reduced to 1,345 on the second day on November 11. The number of vehicles dumped as well as collection of fines also reduced on the day.
The BRTA sources said around Tk 9.33 lakh was collected as fine, while 34 vehicles were dumped and five drivers were sentenced to different jail terms by the mobile courts.
The sources noted that the dumping of vehicles and filing of cases further reduced on Thursday.