Few leaders hold transport sector hostage: experts

A handful of people at the top representing the associations of road transport owners and workers control the sector by holding hostage the people in their own interest, observe experts and campaigners.

Monopoly of the road transport business, political connections of these associations, lack of inter-connected transport system and absence of control of the authorities over the sector are major reasons behind this situation, they said.

The experts and campaigners suggested an overall change in the transport system by establishing the control of the authorities and raising awareness among all concerned about their rights, especially among the workers of their rights, as per the laws.

Senior transport sector leaders admitted that ‘problems’ lay in the leadership.

Currently the country is facing a crisis in the transport sector following implementation of the Road Transport Act 2018.

The new road law came into effect on November 1 more than 13 months after it was passed in the Jatiya Sangsad in September 2018 but road transport and bridges minister twice deferred enforcement of the law for making people aware of it.

Finally the government began implementing the law on November 17 amid work abstention of transport workers in different districts protesting against the law while the worker leaders claimed that the workers called the programme without their decision.

On November 20 the Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Goods Transport Owners and Workers Unity Council had gone on a countrywide strike for amending the law which they called off early Thursday after they met with the home minister.

In the meeting the minister assured that their demands would be considered and recommendations would be sent to the road transport ministry on their objections to the new law.

On Friday Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation executive president Shajahan Khan, also former shipping minister, at a meeting said that they would stick to their previous eight-point demands for amendment of the law.

The federation also enforced a strike last year after the law was enacted.

SM Salehuddin, a transport expert and former executive director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board, told New Age that this type of monopoly persisted when there were crisis of alternative transports on roads.

According to the Dhaka Urban Transportation Net work Development Study, he said, about 60 per cent commuters in the capital depend on public buses for movement.

In 2035 the proportion would come down to 45 per cent when the construction of five mass rapid transit and two bus rapid transit lines would be completed, he continued. 

‘As there are no other major means of transport operating, leaders of transport owners and workers utilise this advantage and establish their monopoly on the roads by putting people in trouble,’ he said.

He said that when the MRT and BRT lines would be introduced in the city there would be no such situation on roads like now.

Against this backdrop, ‘leaders’ have emerged at all tiers of the transport system across the country while the rampant practice of extortion all over has also created problems on the roads, he noted.

He said that the top leadership, who controls the whole sector, should not be blamed alone as the problem was entrenched in the whole transport system.

 He opted for multimodal transport and company-based bus systems to establish road discipline by reducing the high demand for buses and thereby curtailing the clout of the transport sector leaders.

The government formulated the National Integrated Multimodal Transport Policy in 2013 which stipulated a multimodal transport system by linking the roadway, railway, waterway and airway, which remains on paper only.

‘If all buses come under a company-based system then there will be no importance of the leaders,’ he observed.

Road safety Foundation vice chairman Jyotirmoy Barua said that only a few people could render the road transport sector non-functional as the road transport workers were relatively most organised in the country.

‘In Bangladesh owners are also leaders of workers associations which cannot be seen in other countries. If some people want to paralyse the country in their own interests they can do it here.

‘They have that power, rightly or wrongly. The workers are organised under the banners of different associations under two major political parties for different reasons,’ he went on.

He said that the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority should be empowered to regulate the entire road transport sector where business of vast value was involved.

The current situation also will not improve without change in the culture of not following the law, he said.

‘In this country we often hear talks about the rule of law. But we spare the big thieves and imprison the small ones,’ he went on.

No political parties think about checking this situation, he said.

Jyotirmoy Barua also commented that the police should have been the best institution which was destroyed by politics in a planned way.

He suggested that an overall development of the situation might be achieved by changing our culture, creating an environment conducive to following laws 

Samajtantrik Sramik Front president Razequzzaman Ratan said that the road transport sector in Bangladesh was not a service sector but a business sector.

He said that it was easy for the transport leaders to incite the workers instead of making them aware about their rights.

The government is also not playing the right role, he noted.

The government, the police, the owners and the workers all should work together for the implementation of the road law, he observed. 

Infrastructural facilities are, too, necessary before making people following the law.

Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh secretary general Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury said that the main reason that a few people controlled the sector as the government lacked its capacity to control.

There are many transport organisations in the country while the authorities count only one organisation or a handful of leaders, he said.

In different meetings the road transport and bridges minister was seen to address some leaders in a friendly manner and then the leaders thought that they were the ones who controlled the sector and became reckless, he resented.

The leaders, who are patronised by the government and have been close to it for a long time, show and misuse power and thus put the government in awkward situations, Mozammel further said.

These leaders became very rich in a very short time due to their monopoly while some dishonest government officials also benefitted from them invisibly, he continued.

In Bangladesh, the owners under some associations directly control the public transports on the roads and the government has to comply with their every demand, he noted.

When any specific person controls these associations he holds the government or the people hostage for securing own interests, he said.

But if the government gives importance to other organisations as well then this monopoly will end and the ‘hostage situation’ would go away. 

The government must control all public transports on its own while the owners should get their due benefits only, he added.

Md Tajul Islam, vice-president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation and member-secretary of the Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Goods Transport Owners and Workers Unity Council, admitted that some leaders became way richer taking advantage of their leadership positions.

But they don’t work for ensuring the rights of the common workers, he said.

About the prevailing situation, he said that the workers went on work abstention on their own as they did not want to drive vehicles anymore fearing high penalties. 

Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association secretary-general Khandaker Enayet Ullah told New Age that no sectors existed without leadership and they took all responsibilities.

Replying a question, he said that some leaders took decision for the strikes considering the interest of the organisation and some for the sector.

‘I consider the interests of the sector, the people and the country before taking any step,’ he added. 

Jatiya Party secretary-general Mashiur Rahman Ranga, also a former state minister, is the executive president of this association.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net