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VEHICLE OWNERS CLAIM

BRTA issues fitness certificate without proper inspection

SABRINA KARIM MURSHED
***The computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre installed four years ago has not yet begun operations because it does not have the expertise to do so. It also needs a small device that should be brought down from Singapore***
Habibul Islam met a friend at the main entrance of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) office in Mirpur. "Why are you here?" his friend Sabbir Ahmed (not his real name) asked.
Islam said he needed to know the procedure of obtaining a fitness certificate for his car. "Do not waste your time here. I will arrange it within half an hour," said Sabbir.
As he had not brought his car along, Islam thought he would get the certificate later. "Don't they need to check my vehicle?" he asked. "Come on, do not worry about all that. These people are all known to me," said Sabbir, who comes frequently to BRTA to renew fitness of light and heavy vehicles of the company he works for.
Not only Sabbir, but also other brokers thronging in the BRTA office will offer their assistance to get a fitness certificate for your vehicle in no time, with or without inspection.
On average about 200 vehicles come to BRTA a day to obtain fitness certificates, said a BRTA official. Vehicle inspection includes smoke emission, brake side slip and alignment tests. "These areas are checked to ensure whether the vehicle is fit to ply the roads without any trouble," he said.
BRTA charges Tk 600 and Tk 900 as renewal fee for fitness certificates of light and vehicles respectively and Tk
45 for the sticker. "You have to give a little more for chaa pani (tea) to the officers. It is not that we devour the entire amount," said Moktar Hossain, a broker outside BRTA.
"I do not directly hand over any cash
to the officers but leave it with the peons, once the certificate has been issued," said Sabbir. He said the amount ranges from Tk 500 to Tk 1,200 depending on the type of vehicle.
BRTA officials denied allegations of issuing fitness certificate just for money, without inspection. "I have never seen it happening here," said one of them. The official also added that the fitness certificates are valid for one year.
"The owner is expected to maintain the fitness of the vehicle throughout the year which is never done, and when black smoke emits from the vehicle after two months of obtaining a fitness certificate, people blame BRTA for it," he said.
He further added that owners bring in vehicles in perfect condition for fitness inspection. "For example, hydraulic horns are removed from most of the commercial vehicles when they are brought for inspection," he said.
The computerised 'Vehicle Inspection Centre (VIC)' installed four years ago has not yet begun operations because it does not have the expertise to do so. It also needs a small device that should be brought down from Singapore, but has not received it as yet. BRTA officials said all vehicles are inspected manually before fitness certificates are issued. "This system has been followed over the years," said another official.
The official also said lack of manpower in BRTA sometimes makes it difficult to inspect vehicles. "BRTA has a manpower of only 300 persons throughout the country," he said. He also said that use of VIC could have modernised the inspection system.