Spl drive against vehicles with tinted glass starts

Traffic police started taking legal action against vehicles with tinted glasses in the capital Sunday, a day after the deadline to remove nontransparent glasses in cars, officials said.
Traffic Department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) launched the special drive following an order of the home ministry to remove nontransparent black glasses by Saturday last to ensure security and to check crimes like abduction,  
On the first day of the drive, legal action in the form of spot fine and case was taken against 973 vehicles until 8:00pm by a number of teams of traffic men positioned in different areas of the capital.
Talking to the FE, DMP Deputy Commissioner (Traffic, South) Khan Muhammad Rajowan said a total of 217 cars and microbuses faced the legal action under his division till 6:00pm.
"Spot fine (Tk 1200 per vehicle) against 106 vehicles was realised and cases filed against 111 vehicles," he said, adding that necessary documents of the vehicles containing tinted glass had been seized.
The owners could take back the documents after paying fines and changing glasses, he further said.
Car owners said they were facing difficulties in removing tinted glasses from their car windows because of the sudden supply shortage and price hike of new glasses since the home ministry's order.
The drive also sparked resentment to a section of car owners as the order exempted the vehicles having built-in black or tinted glasses from their manufacturing plants abroad.
Sheikh Sohel, a car owner, said the traffic officials took away necessary documents of his car having tinted glass from House Building area at Uttara Sunday evening.
"Although everything inside the car could be seen transparently from outside, the traffic men took legal action against my car," he claimed.
He was also very critical of the dual policy of the Home Ministry saying that its order would not be applicable to cars' windshields, side windows, or rear windows having built-in covers right from the assembling stage.
"Common citizens feel discriminated. The rule should be applicable to all vehicles," he said.
In the wake of growing incidents of kidnap across the country, the Home Ministry issued a notification on April 30 asking for removal of all artificial coverings and non-transparent and colourful glasses from windows of cars, microbuses and jeeps by May 10 last.
Later on May 6, the ministry issued the second notification which exempted the four wheelers, imported with built-in black or coloured glasses, in a deviation from its earlier directive to remove those.