Govt losing Tk 300m revenue yearly

CHITTAGONG, June 12: The government has been losing about Tk 300 million as revenue per year because some 15,000 illegal CNG-run auto-rickshaws flout registration fee and renewal fee every year since 2007.
The amount stands at around Tk 2.4 billion in the last eight years, sources at Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (passenger welfare association) said.
It said 7,000 illegal auto-rickshaws are plying in the port city, and 8,000 others are plying in Chittagong district without registration.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has refrained from registering and renewing the illegal vehicles since 2007.
Registration fee of 15,000 three-wheeler CNG (compressed natural gas)-run  auto-rickshaws is Tk 188.20 million a year with Tk 12,549 being the registration fee of each vehicle, and their annual renewal fee is Tk 110 million with Tk 7,304 being the fee of each vehicle, sources said.
These vehicles are plying different routes in Chittagong city and its 14 upazilas with "on test" and "AFR" (applied for registration) nameplates. From 2002 to 2004 the government issued registration to 13,000 environment-friendly CNG auto-rickshaws for Dhaka city and 13,000 CNG auto-rickshaws for Chittagong city.
Following allegations of extracting exorbitant fares from the passengers the government approved the CNG Auto Rickshaw Service Rules 2007, and fixed Tk 25 for first two kilometres and then Tk seven for each kilometre for carrying passengers to their destinations.
The welfare association alleged that the CNG autos are charging up to Tk 120 from passengers for the first two kilometres.  Besides, the auto operators often decline to go to the passengers' desired destinations and run on the routes of their choice.
"This they do simply to hike the fare further by three to four times by holding the passengers hostage to their whims," said Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, president of Chittagong regional committee of the association.
He said 13,000 registered auto-rickshaws have realised illegally Tk 60.84 billion during the las 13 years since 2002, as each auto has realised at least Tk 1,000 as extra fares from the passengers in a day.
He further alleged that most of the auto-rickshaws, plying the city and district roads, have crossed the economic life time of nine years as per declaration of the auto-rickshaw manufacturers.
But the local police administration, district administration, and the BRTA Chittagong Metro and District offices did not conduct any drive against those autos.
He said the government fixed the ceiling of 13,000 autos for the city's 330 million people in 2003. The ceiling of the number of autos in the city of 600 million people now should be raised to 20,000, he opined.
pankajdastider@gmail.com