Tinted glass directive

After the multiple murders in Narayanganj, the government has issued a directive banning use of tinted windshield/glass in vehicles. Such glasses help avoid public gaze for vehicles during abductions of the kind resorted to by the abductors and killers of seven people in Narayanganj on April 27. Vehicle owners have been asked to remove such glasses by May 10 or face penal action. But the directive is not clear about tinted glasses which come fitted in vehicles from the production line – owners are not clear whether they have to take them out. But the police are determined to implement the directive from today (Sunday) since the deadline has expired the day before. ‘From Sunday we will start the crackdown on vehicles using tinted glass,’ said Mir Rezaul Alam, Joint Commissioner (Traffic). He said vehicles using tinted glass will first face fines upto TK 12,000 – then the vehicles will be seized for non-compliance. But he said police will only go for vehicles in which tinted glass or dark films have been used separately – not target vehicles which came with inbuilt tinted glass. But will such a limited directive help? Criminals may still use vehicles with in-built tinted glasses, can’t they! Mir Rezaul Alam says that ‘we have to proceed step-by-step.’ Taking on vehicles with in-built tinted glass may be the next step, he hinted. But many who own vehicles with in-built tinted glasses are not taking any chances. ‘I had in-built tinted glasses in my vehicles but I spent Tk 30,000 for changing them on May 7,’ said Md Shahjahan of Mohammadpur in Dhaka, according to a news agency.