DHAKA: Speakers a roundtable said roles of everyone, including vehicle owners, drivers, passengers, police and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), are essential to prevent road accidents.
The speakers came up with the observation while addressing a roundtable meeting titled ‘Who is responsible in preventing road accident’ held at daily Jugantor office in city with the help of Jamuna Television on Saturday.
They claimed that the government would not be able to reduce road crash by itself.
According to them, the initiative will be successful if people of all walks of life play their respective roles.
In this regard, the vehicle owners, drivers, passengers, police and BRTA should play more important roles, they added.
The road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, while addressing the round table meeting as chief guest, said that the government has taken initiatives to reduce road accidents to 50 percent by 2020.
Pic: Jugantor-office,Road-Transport-Minister-7_banglanews24
“We are going to start the project of removing ‘black spots’ from the highways in January under a project worth Tk 165 crore,” he added.
Admitting irregularities in providing driving licenses and fitness certificates for vehicles, the minister said that many times these are given in exchange of money.
The ministry concerned cannot remove the unfit vehicles from roads keeping the sufferings of commuters in mind, he added.
Actor and also safe road movement ‘Nirapad Sarak Chai’ president Ilias Kanchan mentioned that some 15 thousand crore is going waste every year due to road accidents.
As no one is responsible personally for a road accident, everyone is accountable to prevent it, he commented.
On the other hand, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) professor Shamsul Haque claimed that the method, followed by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), is absolutely unscientific.
He, moreover, suggested forming a specialized division of police, in this regard.
Pic:Jugantor-office,Road-Transport-Minister-3_banglanews24
Among others, daily Jugantor publisher advocate Salma Islam MP said that the ratio of road crashes will be reduced if all the departments, being associated with roads and highways, work under coordination.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) acting commissioner Abdul Jalil, Road Workers’ Federation general secretary Usman Ali, Road Transport Owners’ Association president Abul Kalam, Passengers’ Welfare Society secretary general Mozammel Haque and Jamuna Television head of news Zakaria Kajol were also present at the program chaired by daily Jugantor acting editor Saiful Alam.
Journalist Mahbub Kamal and ‘Nirapod Sarak Chai’ secretary general Shamim Al Dipen read out the key note at the discussion.
BDST: 27 HRS, NOV 29, 2014
