& 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

171 BRTC buses running, 150 out of order

Raihan Sabuktagin
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has more buses lying idle and broken in their depots than running on the city streets.
BRTC sources said they are operating 171 buses in the city while at least 200 buses are left out of order. The number of disordered buses in Dhaka is not less than 150.
Most of the 171 buses of BRTC provide staff and student transportation service to universities and government offices and are used in city services. BRTC also leased out 127 buses for carrying passengers between the city and its peripheries.
This correspondent visited Joarsahara and Kamalapur bus depots of BRTC where more than 100 buses were found awaiting repair. At Joarsahara depot, there were 55 buses while at Kamlapur 30 double-deckers and 21 single-decker buses were found.
BRTC sources said these buses have been kept out of service as they need major repair which is too costly. No major step has been taken to repair these buses.
Commuters in the city expressed frustrations at the BRTC services.
"BRTC is comfortable but not available on time, Mahbubar Rahman, a private university student told this correspondent while waiting for bus at Mirpur.
"As a regular passenger, I know BRTC's Volvo is the most comfortable bus. Double-decker and other BRTC buses are more specious than private ones but these buses are very few in number and not available on all routes," he said.
Shahana Parveen, a NGO activist, said, "Through newspaper I came to know about a BRTC bus service for women. But I have never seen such a service."
Millat, a trader said, "Except Volvo, all other BRTC city buses are slow-moving and in a dilapidated condition. Such appearance discourages passengers."
A BRTC official said they have costlier and more comfortable buses in their fleet and the services are cheaper than private operators, but circumstances and dilapidated buses cannot attract passengers.
He said BRTC has to earn money to pay salaries of the
employees and repay a huge amount of loan but unfortunately its income is decreasing due to withdrawal of a large number of buses from the city services.
The official mentioned that an agreement was signed between the communications ministry of the immediate-past government and Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik-Sramik Oikya Parishad to withdraw 100 BRTC buses from different city routes. BRTC was compelled to sign the agreement as the private transport owners and workers threatened to enforce non-stop strike unless the corporation stopped operating buses on city and inter-district routes, he added.
BRTC Chairman Colonel Akhtar Kamal said the corporation is in a very uncomfortable position with the large number disordered buses. Any investments on the old and dilapidated buses would mean more losses.
On curbing corruption, he said now they are conducting a special drive to ensure deposit of the exact amount of money collected as fare and find out buses, which would after repair serve for a considerable period.