25 buses fill in for slow vehicles in Natore

In an unprecedented move, the district administration of Natore has stopped movement of human hauliers and three-wheelers on the highways and introduced at least 25 buses in association with the owners association.

At least 15 of the buses will run on Natore-Pabna and 10 on Natore-Bogra highways.

Shafiqul Islam Shimul, lawmaker from Natore Sadar constituency, who was apparently dissatisfied with the move, said the administration should take well-considered actions to avoid huge unemployment.

On the other side, Mojibor Rahman, joint secretary of the district bus owners association, said their services on the highways remained suspended for last four years after the unauthorised vehicles had started business.

“Transport workers regularly had quarrels with the drivers of those unauthorised vehicles over collecting passengers,” he said, adding that local political leaders later requested them to stop the bus services.

The district administration yesterday conducted six mobile courts on the highways and stopped movement of all modes of human hauliers and three-wheelers including battery-run auto-rickshaws and shallow-engine driven Nosimons.

Deputy Commissioner Shaheena Khatun said they have taken a decision to conduct continuous mobile court drives against unauthorised vehicles for three months.

She chaired a meeting of the Regional Transport Committee at her office's conference room yesterday where a 20-point decision was taken to ensure road safety.

The decisions also include checking unsafe overtaking and overloading of buses, removing illegal roadside markets, repairing damaged roads, widening highways, and introducing a hassle-free system to get driving licence and vehicle documents.

Earlier on Monday night, three mobile courts sealed an illegal auto-rickshaw factory in Bhabaniganj area and jailed its manager Ranju Sarker for one month. The courts also collected Tk 10,700 in fine from 11 auto-rickshaw drivers and jailed five for one day.

Lawmaker Shafiqul Islam protested against the drive and demanded release of the arrestees, but the mobile courts did not listen to him.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, the MP however said he is in favour of the drives against unauthorised vehicles.

“My problem is that it's being conducted only in Natore. Unauthorised vehicles are running freely everywhere else. Over the years, the number of such vehicle has reached so high that a sudden ban would cause huge unemployment and the affected people will blame me,” he observed.

Lawmaker Fazle Hossain Badsha of Rajshahi said removing all the three-wheelers would create an impact on local economy.