S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Police in zero tolerance in Sylhet. CNG-powered autorickshaws will not be allowed on the roads without registration. They have been in a strict position on this since long before Ramadan. As a result, the anarchy that was going on in Sylhet with untested vehicles has stopped. The token trade has also stopped.
But the ‘token syndicate’ of labor leaders involved in the token trade is not sitting still. They have changed their tactics. Now they want to kill two birds with one stone. As part of the new strategy, they have taken to the field along with Bangladesh Road Transport Authority-BRTA Sylhet.
Registration of CNG autorickshaws has been stopped across the country, including Sylhet. After the token trade was curbed, workers and labor organization leaders launched a movement demanding registration. A memorandum was submitted.
After the Sylhet administration assured that it would raise the issue in the ‘upper echelons’, a new syndicate formed by labor leaders and some dishonest BRTA officials capitalized on this and entered the field with a different strategy.
The members of the syndicate started collecting huge money from CNG autorickshaw drivers in the name of getting registrations for untested and stolen vehicles. Sylhet BRTA Assistant Director (Engine) Md. Abu Ashraf Siddiqui is in their group.
Multiple sources said that as per his words, labor leaders are collecting money from CNG-powered autorickshaws on the pretext of getting registrations. Even CNG-powered autorickshaw drivers are issuing bank challans of Tk 15,000.
Sources concerned claim that a target of Tk 30 crore has been set for business from at least 3,000 untested and stolen CNG-powered autorickshaws in Sylhet.
And this money will be collected within this month. Next June, Assistant Director (Engine) Md. Abu Ashraf Siddiqui is leaving Sylhet. Before that, in order to get money from the business, autorickshaw drivers are being misled and money is being extorted in the name of creating registration files.
80 thousand to 1 lakh taka per file is being charged for untested vehicles. And it is also heard that a maximum of 1.5 lakh taka is being charged for stolen vehicles.
However, Md. Abu Ashraf Siddiqui has denied the allegations against him. He said that whoever spread these have given false information. Currently, the registration process is not in progress.
If it is in progress, then the question of illegal transactions arises. However, he admits that they are doing a ‘cycle’. He said that the same incident happened in 2019 as well.
There were allegations of extorting a lot of money on the pretext of registering CNG-powered autorickshaws. It may have happened this time too. If any of the workers extort money from the drivers in the name of registration, it is not my responsibility. I have nothing to do here.
BRTA said that there are 19,234 legal CNG-powered autorickshaws in Sylhet, including the metropolitan area. Another 5 to 7 thousand vehicles are untested.
In addition, there are numerous stolen vehicles in the villages and towns of Sylhet. Until a few days ago, untested vehicles were plying in Sylhet through illegal token trade. In collusion with dishonest police officers, monthly tokens were collected in exchange for money and taken out on the roads.
When the media reported on this, the administration took action. The token trade was stopped. New officers were given responsibility. Officers followed a zero tolerance policy on tokens. As a result, the token syndicate suffered losses. Illegal vehicles disappeared from the roads. In this situation, labor leaders turned to vehicle registration as a new strategy.
But since it was closed by the government, Sylhet BRTA could not register. At that time, labor leaders submitted a memorandum and held a rally in Sylhet demanding the start of registration. They discussed with the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet.
Sources said that after this, the syndicate members started collecting files from the drivers by promising them to register them at various places.
Sylhet BRTA AD Abu Ashraf Siddiqui came forward as the mastermind behind this. On his advice, the drivers are submitting government invoices to the bank. Although there is no instruction from the government to submit invoices, they are convincing the drivers that registration will start soon.
And then, those who submit invoices first will be given registration. Because of this, there is now a rush to submit invoices to the bank for registration in Sylhet. Those invoices have been laminated and hung on untested CNG-powered autorickshaws.
The drivers said that the labor leaders have said that when registration starts, a limited number of vehicles will be registered first. Therefore, they are collecting bank invoices and submitting files in the hope of getting registration in exchange for more money.
This reporter spoke to a CNG-powered autorickshaw driver in the Sylhet metropolitan area who said he deposited 100,000 taka with a ‘broker’ for registration.
A labor leader, who did not want to be named, said that not only Ashraf, but a group organized by BRTA is embezzling crores of taka by promising to provide registration through labor leaders. Among them are the names of Alal and Abul.
And outside BRTA, that syndicate is led by Altab Hossain, Waris Ali, Shah Jahan, Abdul Alim Bhasani, Delwar, Zakaria, Mohammad Ali and some other CNG labor leaders. They used to control the token trade in Sylhet earlier.
The labor leader said that in fact, the workers are creating an issue by submitting bank invoices. Otherwise, there is no basis for depositing money when the registration process is closed, they would not have done it.
After the token trade was stopped, the syndicate members continued to move forward with these three decisions in mind: buying and selling old cars, bringing untested cars from other districts, and submitting invoices. They are basically moving forward with new strategies to keep the police and administration under pressure.
