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Traffic situation improves

Unfit vehicles not seen in 2 days

Kailash Sarkar
The government's recent moves to rid the capital of nagging traffic congestion have witnessed dramatic improvement in the last two days much to the relief of city dwellers.
Transport movement on the city roads was comparatively smooth yesterday as most of the unfit and age-old vehicles and other modes of vehicles without licences and legal papers remained off the roads.
Apart from the activities of newly set-up mobile courts, traffic police in the last few days have been more vigilant and proactive in implementing traffic rules and controlling vehicular movement.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) seized around 2,000 unfit and wom-out vehicles while several hundred owners
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thronged die BRIA office to update invalid papers of their vehicles.
The communication ministry’ set up a total of 13 mobile courts yesterday in addition to two mobile courts of BREA in the city to conduct drives against unfit and age-old vehicles. DMP also started a special drive on August 9.
The ministry, however, could not start the drive in full swing due to inadequate manpower, equipment and shortage of magistrate, sources said.
i ‘The communications ministry on August 20 formed a 12-member high-powered committee headed by Additional Communication Secretary Shafique Alam Mehdi to coordinate and monitor the activities of the mobile courts and other agencies working to control traffic.
Meanwhile, Dhaka district deputy commissioner (DC) requested the establishment ministry to provide at least 30 magistrates for setting up mobile courts in the DMP area to execute the home ministry’ decision.
As the DC did not get a single magistrate as of yesterday, he set up only 11 mobile courts with 11 magistrates, of which five were set up after closing five mobile courts of BSTI which had been working against food adulteration in the city.
The courts were set up for Mohakhali, Gulshan. Uttara, Mailbag,’ Demra. Mirpur and Old Dhaka areas.
The mobile courts are working without any wrecker and
therefore they had to take action only filing cases or realising fines from the vehicles instead i of seizing them.
DC Zillar Rahman told The I Daily Star, "I have only 12 magistrates and three of them have to stay in the office. How can I assign all the magistrates?"
"Now’ we are taking action against age-old and unfit vehicles and vehicles with doctored papers," the DC said, adding, "Next we will take measures against vehicles including | CNG-run auto-rickshaws and 1 taxicabs, which violate their terms and conditions and I charge higher. ’
Meanwhile, officials from the DMP and BRIA claimed that | their drives helped ease traffic j congestion in the city as they [ had already seized around 2,500 I old and unfit motorised vehicles and around 1,800 illegal i rickshaws while they’ filed over j 3,000 cases against those who I violated traffic rules.
DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque said they have been conducting special drives i since August 9 and seized over 2,000 motorised vehicles and around 1,800 rickshaws so far while BRIA Director (Enforce- I ment) Tapan Kumar Sarker said j they started drives on August 4 | by’setting up two mobile courts. !
BRIA sources said there are around five lakh registered j vehicles in the capital and of them 7,500 are buses and minibuses. Of the buses over 2,500 are old and unfit while a huge ' number of others have been plying without valid papers or with fake papers.