The countrywide drive to seize unfit motorised vehicles begins today (Monday) with a view to making city roads and highways free from damaged or illegal vehicles.
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), some 33 per cent of the registered 2.20 million motorised vehicles run in the country without fitness certificates.
However, experts questioned about the fitness of those transports, mostly buses and trucks, which received BRTA fitness certificates without following rules and regulations, and run on the streets in a very bad condition.
Officials of BRTA and the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB) said the drive has been planned to track those vehicles that are on the main roads and arteries without papers and whose motor capacity does not match with the Motor Vehicles Ordinance.
They said more than 350 check points will be set up throughout the country with the help of the law enforcing agencies, local administration and mayors.
However, the BRTA and MoRTB could not confirm exactly what types of action would be taken but officials said mostly the operators will be fined or punished for plying unfit vehicles on the streets.
The ministry in the past had launched several drives to seize the unfit and illegal motorised vehicles but those efforts went in vain for lack of scrapping facilities or dumping grounds.
Although a number of old vehicles were sent to the dumping grounds, some of those were given back to the owners soon after the drives became weaker for reasons best known to the authorities. Thus, the drives failed to withdraw an optimum number of vehicles from the streets.
BRTA officials said its magistrates will conduct the drive with the help of police at three points in the city.
BRTA Chairman Nazrul Islam said the latest drive will focus on the availability of valid documents and fine a vehicle operator for not keeping those.
Road Transport Division Secretary MAN Siddique, however, told the FE over phone that they expect to make the highways free from nosimon, korimon and battery-run autorickshaws as these cause many major accidents.
smunima@yahoo.com
