BRTA made free from middlemen

Jubair Hasan Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is now free from licence middlemen who used to fleece hundreds of people a day in the name of providing services like vehicle registration, fitness certificate and getting licence. The transport regulatory body with the help of members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) launched a drive to ensure smooth and hazardless service to the customers from the last two weeks. At least 60 middlemen were detained by the law enforcers during the hunt. BRTA service seekers said they are receiving the services in a systematic way without facing any troubles from any quarter inside the office compound, which were dominated by the middlemen couple of week ago. They have also suggested the authority maintain the pro-people atmosphere in coming days by increasing its manpower and other logistic supports as the regulatory body is battling hard to meet clients' demands properly. "We are happy with the atmosphere now prevailing in BRTA. But the authority should beef up its activities to maintain the same," service seeker Manjor Ahmed, who came from Uttara to renew his driving licence said. After visiting various points of the institution in Mirpur, no presence of the middlemen was found. BRTA Director (Administration) Tapan Kumar Sarker said they took the special initiative to ensure hazardless services to their customers who often face difficulties due to the illegal activities of the community. "We'll not allow any middlemen in the organisation in coming days. We want to make it a service-oriented institution," he said, adding that they had a meeting Tuesday with the officials concerned regarding the matter. He said they recently deployed 30 more people from Ansar and its IT (information technology) wing to boost its activities. "Our officials and the law enforcers are regularly monitoring the situation," he added. Another senior official said they have been receiving a large number of customers a day due to the crackdown as the service seekers directly come to their office rooms to get the service. "The middlemen directly used to handle a significant number of the customers earlier," he said, adding that it would be very tough for the existing manpower of the department to ensure smooth services. BRTA Mirpur office deals with 1,000 clients on an average every day who seek different services including car fitness certificate. Apart from this, people go to BRTA for ownership transfer, driving licences, registration, correction of mistakes in documents, route permit etc.