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CNG Transport Anomalies

Govt, owners, drivers meet; trade blames

Staff Correspondent
A tripartite meeting of government officials, CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners and workers yesterday went nowhere as they blamed one another throughout the deliberations instead of focusing on checking irregularities in the sector.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader convened the meeting at the Rail
Bhaban in Dhaka following a four-day strike enforced by auto-rickshaw workers from July 11 to press home their 10-point demand.
One major factor workers have been trying to draw the authority's attention to is that they are being overcharged by the vehicle owners.
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At the meeting, the three groups discussed a number of issues, including random fares charged by drivers, high daily deposits imposed by owners on drivers and police extortion and harassment, but no party could come up with ideas of a resolution of the problem.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Chairman Ayubur Rahman said the auto rickshaw owners and workers were not operating their vehicles in compliance with rules and regulations.
The owners and workers, however, put the blame on BRTA, saying it had not taken any step to implement a tripartite accord signed by the government, auto rickshaw owners and workers around one and a half years ago.
BRTA has not formed a monitoring team comprised of owners and workers to check irregularities, said Barkal Ullah Bhulu, president of Dhaka Metropolitan C N G Auto Rickshaw Business Owners' Association.
"Had that been done, many problems would have been solved by this time."
On the matter of drivers overcharging passengers, the auto-rickshaw workers and owners blamed one another and al one stage got into an
altercation, to the extent of trading insults against one another.
If owners take Tk 600 as fixed by the government as daily deposit for an autorickshaw, drivers will surely charge passengers by metre, said Zakir Hossain, general secretary of Dhaka Zila Auto Rickshaw Sramik Union.
Expressing a contrary view, Bhulu, a leader of the owners' association, said, "They (workers) are greedy and will never follow the metre, even if we give them auto rickshaws free of cost."
In the midst of such a chaotic situation, the communications minister suspended the meeting and called another meeting tomorrow.
He also instructed the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner (traffic) to be present at the next meeting since the owners and workers of CNG-run three-wheelers alleged that they often faced harassment and extortion al the hands of the police.
Around two dozen leaders of owners' and workers' associations attended the meeting.
For the last couple of weeks, the owners have been bargaining with the government about a fulfilment of their 10 demands, including the withdrawal of the newly imposed income lax.