DHAKA: Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is likely to begin operations against unfit and expired vehicles in the capital and the elsewhere of the country. These vehicles would not be permitted to ply in the city thoroughfares.

Stern actions would be taken against the owners, case would be filed even license could be cancelled whose vehicles would be found defective and unfit to run.

Sources of the BRTA said the drives were scheduled to launch a month ago but transport owners’ associations sought a month promising the authorities that the unfit vehicles would be repaired within the time.

BRTA Director (enforcement) Motiar Rahman told banglanews “The government gave time to the owner till March 26 (Wednesday) and we have decided to start drive from March 27 (Thursday).”

“Three mobile teams have already seized 10 more unfit buses from different places of the capital and sent them to the dumping stations,” Motiar said adding more teams would be deployed on Thursday and more vehicles would be sent to the stations.

The official warned of showing zero tolerance during drives saying “not only the unfitness of busses would be checked, other ramshackle vehicles would also be seized too.”

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner (traffic) Mir Rezaul Alam told banglanews “Perhaps, no final decision of operation was not made; meanwhile, BRTA held a combined meeting where the transport owners’ and workers’ associations demanded to fix a new date for operation.”

“The date may be differed for several days then a coordinated drive will be started against those vehicles,” Rezaul added.

When banglanews made visits at several workshops across Dhaka found that numbers of the unfit vehicles have increased comparatively. Transport owners have been taking preparations to run the expired vehicles after renovation on the roads ahead of the drives.

At the workshops, outsides of the vehicles were given new looks like a new brand car but most of its engines remained unfixed.

Wishing anonymity, several transport owners told banglanews that they began running some China-made buses on different routes of the city by taking bank loans, but those were low-quality ones and gave services for few days.

They became victims of cheating in transport business and the vehicles have been kept in the dumping stations in Aminbazar, Gazipur and Kanchpur areas, the owners claimed.

Dhaka Roads Transport Owners’ Association president Khandakar Enayet Ullah said “We agreed with the government’s strict position and actions would also be taken those are ruining vehicles in illegal way.”

“We took a month from BRTA in this regard and told them to begin operations by the ended of the April,” he added arguing that vehicle documents could be updated through giving fines to government within this time.

Sources said a total of 70,707 out of 7,91,043 different types of vehicles were marked as fitness defaulter around the city. Those vehicles’ expiry date is one to nine years.

In first two months of 2014, some 215 mobile courts were set up, 1,937 cases were filed, Tk 13,25,682 were realized as fine, 32 people were sent to jail and 59 vehicles were dumped.

Some 9,148 cases were filed under 763 mobile courts in 2013 around the city. 246 vehicles were dumped, 127 people were jailed in different terms and TK 59,06.487  were realized as fine by the courts.

BDST: 1128 HRS, MAR 27, 2014