‘Company-based bus service a root cause of extortion’

Blaming the company-based bus service in Dhaka city as the root cause of extortion in the transport sector, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association today demanded the authority to change the system.

The association, a platform of transport owners, also denied its involvement in collecting ransom from the transport sector and said it only collects subscription from its members to run the organisation and its activities.

Mashiur Rahman Ranga and Khondaker Enayet Ullah, president and secretary general of the association respectively, said these at a press conference at its office in capital’s Paribagh.

The association arranged the briefing after leaders of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik-Sramik Oikya League, a relatively new platform of transport owners and workers, accused the association and particularly its top leader Enayet Ullah of collecting ransom.

Ismail Hossain Bachchu, member secretary of the Paribahan Malik-Sramik Oikya League, raised the allegations from a press conference early this month.

Both Ranga and Enayet, however, refuted the allegations sand said a vested quarter led by Bachchu, who is facing several cases including for murder charge, is hatching a conspiracy to disestablish transport sector. They also urged the administration and law enforcers to take immediate legal action against Bachchu.

Eanyet Ullah said its true many companies take additional money from bus owners but they don’t have full control over those companies.

He said bus owners in the capital used to get route permit through owner’s association but during the last BNP-led government company-based route permit system.

Under the system, some four to five people formed a company and take registration from joint stock company, Enayet said. Then they sought route permit from Metro Regional Transport Committee (RTC) and after getting route permit for a particular number of buses, they included other bus owners under their company, he said.

It is the company required a particular amount of money to pay “unseen expenditure”, ticket, checker and office maintenance, but many companies to additional money than actual expenditure from the bus owners, he said.

A transport leader said a company take TK 700 to 1400 from a bus daily.

Enayet said so the system of giving bus route through the company should be changed.

Mashiur Rahman Ranga, opposition’s chief whip on the parliament, said he personally talked with the Prime Minister and gave her proposal to install CCTV on the highways across the country, which will help to ensure road safety and stop collecting ransom.

The owner’s association will provide the cost of the project, Ranga said.

Enayet said they will help the government to enforce the Road Transport Act-2018 from November 1.

He said they have recommended several amendments after the law was passed and the authorities said they will analyse the recommendations after the law comes into effect.

Association Mahbubur Rahman, Abul Kalam and Samdani Khondaker were present at the briefing.