How ludicrous! The on-going drive against unfit, unlicensed vehicles and drivers without driving licences is making news more for the sufferings caused to commuters than for the success of the drive. A report quoting the chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) says that 100 cases were filed on Monday, the first day of the drive, and unfit buses were dumped. Whether the number of cases is for the capital or the entire country is not clear. This had to be so because the drive was carried out until noon and all unlicensed and unfit vehicles were taken off the road before that time. In the afternoon, though, all those buses staged a comeback.
Now according to the BRTA chairman, about 33 per cent of the 2.2 million registered vehicles in the country run without fitness certificate. Then the existence of unregistered vehicles and those using fake registrations cannot be ruled out too. If a serious and effective drive could be conducted with the express aim of breaking the evil nexus that has come into being over the decades -and that too not without the blessings of authorities concerned - only 100 faulty vehicles would not have made it to the seizure list. The mobile teams in operation and the transport operators played a cat-and-mouse game and they will continue to do so until the end of the drive.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has expressed his determination to continue the drive. If the drive follows the first day's pattern, there will be serious doubt about any tangible success of this campaign apart from a few such hauls as of the day one. Involved here are a number in the million and the haul of a few hundred road-unworthy vehicles will be deemed rather a failure. Also, chances are slim that drivers unqualified and without proper documents will get caught. The transport minister has demonstrated his agility and tenacity but one is afraid this time too the move will fall flat. It would be really sad if this gives any impression of playing to the gallery.
First, there is a need to recognise that this is an accumulated problem by default or deliberate device. If the authorities continue to turn a blind eye to a problem for years or decades together, it cannot be solved with a single stroke. By this time interests of various groups become so overpowering that questioning its illegal locus standi does not always make a forceful argument. This is happening not only in the case of faulty and unqualified motorised vehicles and drivers respectively but also in many other areas involving public life.
The last time this issue was seriously taken up was by none other than a military ruler -Hossein Mohammad Ershad to be precise. Even he had to back out in the face of enormous pressure from powerful and organised quarters. The law drafted originally with provision for stiffer penalty could not be enacted. Even buses -then mostly mini-buses -were given a fresh coat of colour to look them better but essentially they were the old and dilapidated ones. The same ploy was adopted a few years later when there was some outcry over such buses and unqualified or unskilled drivers.
Currently, law makes it mandatory for consigning vehicles to dumping grounds after 20 years. But unfortunately, there is no enforcement of the law. Vehicles are applied fresh coats of colour in order to pass them as fit. Regular monitoring and check are non-existent. But where the authorities have failed miserably is in the areas of issuing licences -both fitness for vehicles and driving licences for drivers. Allegations have it that such licences can be procured with bribe. In fact, accusing fingers have been pointed to the BRTA itself. Middlemen do the work for speed money.
So the challenge is no less daunting when it comes to cleaning the Augean Stable. And it is evident that without accomplishing this task first, no action against vehicles and transport operators in illegal operation will bear any fruit. When the transport operators feel threatened, they resort to arm-twisting tactics in order to foil any move aimed at pushing them into a tight corner. Mercifully, they have not announced any such programme yet. In the past, they have done so with the blessing from powerful quarters.
As for the sufferings of the commuters, there is hardly any word of sympathy. On the third day of the drive, the traffic jam in the capital was one of the worst commuters have experienced ever in the city. So, the picture transformed altogether to the reverse. What was the magic behind it? That people in this capital have to waste so much time and energy is irreconcilable and irremediable. The cost is not only proving on individual count but also on that of the national.
Sure enough, in the absence of any alternative transport, people do suffer beyond all measures. If the objective is to bring discipline, there is a need for getting ready a mode of transport in this city for mass transit. Nothing short will do. Piecemeal solution will not keep the city liveable. There is a need to think in bigger terms of transportation.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com