& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Minibuses most reckless

MOON MOON SULTANA
The Society of Human Endeavour of Broad Achievement (SHEBA) for Bangladesh in a roundtable recently revealed that buses and trucks cause 57 percent of road accidents in the country with most mishaps happening in Dhaka.
According DC Traffic (North) sources, 594 accidents took place last year with 297 caused by minibuses and buses. Minibuses were involved in 157 accidents while large buses in the rest. There were 26 microbus accidents, 23 by motorcycles, 93 by heavy trucks and 177 by cars in 2004.
“In most accidents in the capital, minibuses are respon-sible. It happens because of reckless driving of the drivers and since minibuses are
the main mode of transportation for the middle and lower income groups, people travel risking their lives,” said a police official.
The drivers meanwhile, claim that they drive recklessly under pressure from the owners.
“We are compelled to drive fast in order to make more profit as the owners put pressure on us,” said Rahmat Ali, a bus driver on the Farmgate-Azimpur route. “We also have to make optimum use of the fuel and that is why we speed up,” added another driver Salam.
Shah Alam, a helper of a bus pointed at passengers.
“Who wants an accident? Everyone blames us for the mish-aps but sometimes passengers force us to drive fast during office hours.” Amir, who drives a bus on the Motijheel-Kakrail-Maghbazar route, said sometimes they had to drive fast just to evade corrupt police sergeants and constables.
“The police in the name of checking documents, demand bribe. They also threaten to file cases if we refuse,” he said.
Traffic sergeant Alamgir Hossain contradicted the allegation. “ Most local buses are driven by unlicensed helpers. They often race to see who can go faster and pick more customers. That is why there is a tendency to escape from the police."
Rony, a driver on the Farmgate-Shamoly route admitted that helpers are involved in driving.
“Earlier I was a helper but for the last four months, I have been driving
as per my owner's wish. I can drive faster and can make more money for the owner that way.”
Traffic police officials said that there would be more systematic checks in the future to prevent unlicensed drivers or helpers from taking the wheels.
“The traffic police usually avoid rush hours for checking,” said Md. Feroz Al Mujahid Khan, DC Traffic (north) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. “The DTCB (Dhaka Transport Coordination Board) is now constructing bus stoppages. As soon as the work is done, traffic police will check vehicles at the bus stops,” he added.