When tag makes money

Several thousands of CNG-run private auto-rickshaws are illegally plying the streets of Dhaka city on commercial basis violating the government order, officials said.
Most of these auto-rickshaws come from outside the capital and put extra load on the city streets, thus aggravating the traffic congestion, they added.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the office has so far issued registration to only 293 units of CNG -run auto-rickshaws for private use in the capital and 3,957 units to run out side the city.
But officials at the traffic department of Bangladesh police preferring anonymity said almost all these private auto-rickshaws are running in the capital city on commercial basis.
A number of sergeants and high officials of traffic department said the office is well aware of such malpractices but the passengers most of the time do not acknowledge their rental ride for which they cannot go for action.
"In most of the cases when we interrogate the drivers, they say the vehicles are running privately and the passengers sitting inside the vehicles also echo the same. So we cannot prove the illegal operation," a traffic sergeant in the city's Farmgate area told the FE Wednesday preferring anonymity.
"If the passengers would help us telling the truth, then we could achieve a visible progress to curb down such illegal plying of autos," he added.
However, joint commissioner of police (traffic department) Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said the department is conducting surprise drives along with its regular activities to bring down such illegal operation of private CNG-run autos.
"We have confined a good number of such vehicles and dumped those in our dumping stations along with taking action against their drivers and owners," he added.
"Besides, the department will go for further drives soon along with its regular drive to curb down such illegal practice," he said.
Meanwhile, drivers of a number of such illegal auto-rickshaws preferring anonymity told the FE that they pay ransom to the traffic personnel on a monthly basis to ensure their free movement.
"Each of the private auto-rickshaw drivers has to pay a certain amount on a monthly basis to run in the capital," a private auto-rickshaw driver said.
"Besides, if any of such three wheelers is seized by the traffic department officials during special drive, then it requires at least ten to twenty thousand taka to release it," he added.
Meanwhile, the government has suspended the issuance of new licences to auto-rickshaws both for commercial and private operation in the city for the last four years.
According to the BRTA data, around 7,000 registered CNG-run auto-rickshaws are plying the city's roads commercially.
Besides, a good number of auto-rickshaws with fake registration numbers are also running in the city.
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