Speakers at a roundtable yesterday stressed that passengers of auto-rickshaws have always been victims despite repeated fare hikes, signal waiting charges, drivers paying rent to owners, and so on.
Organised by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity at the National Press Club, the discussion pointed out that between 2001 and 2003, 13,000-odd CNG auto-rickshaws had been permitted to ply on the streets of Dhaka and Chittagong, each. Though each auto-rickshaw had been bought for just Tk. 157, 500 at that time and managed to earn nearly Tk. 1 crore in 14 years, passengers continued to face fare hike hassles.
Earlier, auto drivers had to pay Tk. 300 per day as rent to owners while passengers had to pay Tk. 12 for the first 2 kilometres with an additional Tk. 5 per kilometre for the rest of the distance, not to mention 50 paisa as traffic jam and signal waiting charges. Till 2015, these prices were increased two times. On September 10 this year, the fourth hike in price warranted that an auto driver pay Tk. 900 as rent to the owner, passengers pay Tk. 40 for the first 2km and Tk. 2 as traffic jam and signal waiting charges; informed Secretary General of Jatri Kalyan Samity Mozammel Huq.
“For the last 12 years, no new auto-rickshaw has been registered though on an average, 175 private cars get registered daily in Dhaka. Passengers are at the mercy of drivers because of the limited number of autos i.e. 13,000. Commuters are forced to pay extra,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Secretary Sawkat Ali said, “We now have 11 magistrates in BRTA instead of the earlier 2. Daily, six mobile courts have been running in the capital to monitor drivers whether they charge passengers more. Allegations of overcharging are baseless.”
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Presidium Member Khan Ahsan Lablu said, “Building metro-rails and flyovers will not be fruitful until overpasses are built at some road points in the capital where vehicles like autos can take a U-turn.”
Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) Central Committee Member Rajekuzzaman Ratan said CNG-run auto-rickshaws are not meant to be vehicles for the poor but in reality they have become ambulances for the poor. He said a private car occupies around 84 square feet whereas an auto-rickshaw takes up very little space. So, considering utility of different vehicles, the government should increase the number of auto-rickshaws in the capital.
Jatri Kalyan Samity leaders demanded that autos have meters, meter tampering be stopped, and the number of autos be increased to 50,000 in Dhaka and 20,000 in Chittagong. They also asked BRTA to ensure fare charts; names and mobile numbers of drivers; BRTA officials’ and traffic police contact numbers in vehicles. An initiative to crackdown on CNG-run autos demanding runaway fares has been started in the capital on November 1. A similar effort will begin in Chittagong city in January.
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.