Whose fault is it anyway?

The woman sitting at the hospital reception was obviously in a state of distress. With a wad of invoices she was clicking the calculator on her cell phone no doubt trying to add up the expenses. The phone rang and she looked up in exasperation before answering, 'What? A wrecker ? Bribe?'
Stuffing everything into her bag she moved outside and this scribe followed. Merging from the hospital she was immediately confronted by her driver. She was looking unkempt, no doubt the health worries of self or a dear one. The immediate question on her lips was "how much for the bribe?" Clutching onto his papers the driver said, "Tk 1200 for the wrecker". As if she had not heard she went on "how much for the police? ". What was next discussed was out of ear shot for this scribe. They hurried off with the woman fumbling in her bag.
A common sight and a phenomenon that many can identify with. Especially those who have to brave the traffic and go to hospitals located on busy thoroughfares, rush in with their patients or for themselves and then come out to hear that the law enforcing agencies have picked up their car or transport for illegal parking.  No one would debate that that is the correct thing. But what are people to do when there is no parking on the roads and no parking slots available?  
It may be a bit about sophistication in traffic management (read catch the car owners for they can pay).
However, apart from traffic weeks and such one does not see too many rickshaws been hauled away from parking or any other misdemeanour; no one does one see too many of the CNGs being hauled off for any similar offence. How much money has been collected by the police department on account of such fines is rarely made public but one would imagine that it would not be a small sum. And if a portion of this is paid as incentive, is that taxed or have value added tax (VAT) imposed on? If tuition fee with no value addition can have VAT imposed so can this and all incentives of National Board of Revenue (NBR) officers.
All this of course, comes after what had been hailed at the time as a major departure from tradition in traffic management reducing the hassle for the public. The new process was that cars would be towed and the owners would have to go to the nearest traffic office to pick up the fine, get the papers back and the car. What everyone worried about of course was the fact that these cars would be left lying in a police station somewhere exposed to the elements - natural and human. Nor are the location of the traffic police offices user-friendly. One idea could be to initiate on-line payments using Mobile Financial Services and banks with the ease of collection of papers.
The beauty of the system is that a portion of the fine would be handed over to police personnel as an incentive. This is somewhat akin to the incentives provided to the taxman when they unearth major fraud in terms of payment of taxes and VAT. This "target" system is not a new one. Even in developing countries the system works, more so towards the end of the month when certain targets have to be met. And that is when the police bank in on the discretionary bit such as drivers hobnobbing with higher speed limits.
Speeding is one headache less for the police in Dhaka; the traffic gridlock ensures speedometers are ever tested. Indeed, a popular theme may be to turn around the 'waiting charge' that taxis abroad employ when stuck in jams or traffic lights and bill it to the traffic police to be reimbursed from these funds. It makes sense that of the general public get fined for violating the law, the law should be fined for not easing the any of traffic movement.
As for the parking issue, as the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkhaya (Rajuk)
allows concrete monstrosities to come up in gay abandon, approving officials should be taken to task if appropriate parking is not available. Maybe other departments are involved, including the hospitals but some have shown it is possible.
(The writer may be reached at mahmudrahman@gmail.com)