Motor fitness checks at workshops
Proposal stuck in red tape
41 BRTA inspectors now examine over 15 lakh vehicles in the country
FAISAL MAHMUD
The governments move to outsource the checking of vehicle fitness to motor workshops is stuck in red tape. It has been four years since the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) took the initiative of giving a few motor workshops the provision to issue fitness certificates. However, no further steps have been taken on that initiative yet.
The issuance of fitness certificates is still the responsibility of 41 BRTA inspectors across the country. They have to examine more than 15 lakh vehicles of the country. This has reduced the exercise to a mere formality. On March 2, 2012, BRTA took over the authority to issue motor workshops trade licences and registrations. This was to curb the operation of illegal units that not only occupy road space and create traffic snarls but also run the business in stolen cars and motor parts.
The transport regulator amended Rule 70 of the Ordinance and included Subsection 70-A, which states that the licensing and registration of motor workshops should be done by the BRTA in accordance with the existing number of vehicles.
Previously, the commerce ministry used to issue trade licences for motor workshops, and the related municipal or metropolitan authorities would do the registration.
BRTA director (engineering) Nurul Islam told The Independent that they have amended the rules because over 300 illegal workshops were operating in Dhaka. These sprouted because trade licences for motor workshops were not given in accordance with the existing number of vehicles, he explained.
Nurul Islam said they had been trying to make a list of all motor workshops for several years. We have still not been able to prepare the list because the issuance of licences to workshops is not very easy, he added.
He said that not every motor workshop would be given permission to check the fitness of every kind of vehicle. The BRTA will issue the licences and registrations to motor workshops as per their capacity and compatibility, he added.
Motor workshops will be categorised into three sectionsA, B, and C. A-grade workshops will have the capacity to check the fitness of heavy vehicles, such as buses, trucks, lorries, and minibuses. B-grade workshops will have the capacity to handle SUVs and sedans, while C-grade workshops will have the capacity to handles motorcycles and auto-rickshaws, Nurul Islam said.
The BRTA director said each category of workshops must have enough space to accommodate at least five vehicles of the type they would handle. The motor workshops will be categorised and given the mandate to check the fitness of vehicles only after the transport regulator is certain about their capacity, Nurul Islam said. He added that the capacity would
include adequate equipment to check the fitness of motor parts and enough space to conduct test runs.
Another BRTA official, who preferred anonymity, told The Independent that the process of outsourcing the job of fitness-checking through motor workshops could be monitored from afar as the fitness and licensing record of the transport regulator had been digitised.
When asked whether the motor workshops could engage in malpractices, such as accepting bribes to certify a vehicle as fit without inspection, the BRTA official said the ultimate issuance of fitness certificates was in the hands of the transport regulator.
If any workshop was found to be involved in malpractices, its licence and registration would be cancelled, the official added.
M Belayet Hossain, former president of the Bangladesh Automobile Workshop Owners Association, welcomed this move by the transport regulator. He said there were about 20,000 automobile workshops across the country. Of these, only some 800 were registered with their organisation.
Some workshops illegally support car thieves by selling the stolen vehicles and their parts. If the BRTA starts a drive against such workshops, this illegal operation would end. We will extend full support to the BRTA, he added.
Hossain said several workshops were fully equipped to check the fitness of vehicles. In many other countries, authorised workshops check the fitness of vehicles. The BRTA has conducted several meetings with us in this regard. We always said that we would be happy to cooperate, he added.
However, motor workshops have created much resentment among people because of their encroachment upon road space.
Roads are supposed to be for the movement of vehicles, not for repairing them, grumbled Arafat, a resident of New Eskaton. He was referring to the 20-odd roadside workshops along the Bangla Motor stretch.
It is not only about road space. The noise made by the workshops is much too loud for a residential area, complained Sudip, whose house on Dhakas Elephant Road has a motor workshop next to it.
Prof. Dr Sarwar Jahan of the BUETs urban and regional planning (URP) department said no metropolis should allow such ill-equipped and illegal motor workshops in residential areas. Such workshops not only aggravate traffic congestion but also create noise and air pollution, he added.
Referring to a URP study, Jahan said that 30 per cent roads in Dhaka are lost due to illegal roadside parking. He added that about 69 per cent of Dhakas roads are, on average, 8.7 metres wide, though the standard width of a big city road should be at least 14 metres.
Referring to Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) statistics, Jahan said only 68 per cent of Dhakas total area was being used as roads, while at least 25 per cent of the area of a big city should be used for vehicular movement.
The workshops are eating up road space and occupying pavements, hindering pedestrian movement, he pointed out. The transport regulator should put its amended rule into effect and stop the operation of such workshops in residential areas to end traffic snarls and the resultant hazards pedestrians face, he added.
