The proposed Road Transport Act-2018 is rather soft on transport owners, as it holds drivers solely responsible for deaths and casualties in road crashes.
Road safety campaigners decried the draft law and said it was impossible to ensure safe roads by letting the owners off the hook and by punishingthe workers ordrivers alone.
"We think that transport owners have been exempted from shouldering certain liabilities because of lobbying and negotiations,” said Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers' platform.
The withdrawal of the "undeclared strike" by transport owners just hours before the draft was placed before the cabinet on Monday raises suspicions that the government struck some sort of deals with them, he added.
In the first draft, which the cabinet approved in principle last year, both the owners and workers were held responsible for causalities due to reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, overloading or uncontrolled driving.
But the final draft squarely holds the drivers responsible for casualties caused by reckless driving.
Also, the first draft had made it mandatory for the owners to have insurance policy for all passengers. But the final draft made it optional, another escape route for owners.
All this shows that the government gave in to pressure and accepted the owners' demands, said actor and prominent road safety campaigner Ilias Kanchan.
"We cannot blame drivers alone for road accidents. We demand punishment for the persons responsible. Who recruits an underage driver? Who is responsible for unfit
vehicles? Owners are responsible for it," he toldThe Daily Staryesterday.
"The law can't be for one party. Drivers are poor people and for this reason, they will be brought to book. This is not fair," said Ilias, who has been campaigning for road safety for 25 years since he lost his wife in a car crash in 1993.
Sadeq Ahmed Khan, acting general secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, said both drivers and owners were responsible for road safety. "So they [owners! must not be allowed to go unpunished."
If an owner gives an unfit vehicle to a driver and the vehicle hits someone, it is not logical that only the driver is responsible for that, he noted.
Road safety campaigners have long demanded punishment of owners who recruit underage drivers and operate unfit vehicles, two key reasons for road crashes.
Sadeq said they would scrutinise the draft and place their objections before the authorities.
The cabinet approved the previous draft in principle in March last year. It remained stuck at the law ministry for vetting all these months amid opposition from transport owners and workers to some of its provisions.
In the wake of student protests demanding road safety, the government last week decided to place the draft before the cabinet.
STARK DIFFERENCE
According to section 53 (2) of the first draft, the transport owner or company or operator and driver or helper shall be responsible if any causality occurs in road accidents due to over speeding, reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, overloading or any other cases of uncontrolled driving. Punishment for the offence was three years in jail orTk 25 lakh in fine or both.
But section 103 of the final draft says if anybody causes an accident by reckless and callous driving, and kills or injures someone severely, such person would face a maximum sentence of five years in jail or a fine (not specified in the draft) or both.
Section 46 of the first draft said that the transport owner or company or operator must insure the vehicle, all passengers and any third party and that no vehicle can operate without doing so.
But the recently approved draft makes it optional [section 60 (1)[, saying transport owners can insure the
passengers if he "wishes" to do so. Also, the final draft says nothing about the insurance of the drivers and other staff members.
Likewise, the initial draft [section 48 (3)| said the transport owner, company, operator or their representative must bear the treatment cost of the injured victims. But the approved draft makes no mention of that.
However, it said that after an accident, the driver, conductor or their representatives must inform the nearby police station or fire service or hospital and take necessary steps to save the injured people's lives.
The final draft also proposes that the government will raise a fund named "Arthhik Sahayata Tahabil" for the injured or family members ofthe dead.
The funds will be overseen by a trustee board with representatives from different government agencies, highway police, transport owners and workers' association.
The funds will be raised with taxpayers' money and contribution from transport owners and workers as well as a portion of fines to be realised from traffic offenders.
Khondaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, said the draft was in no way soft on the owners.
Rather, the punishment for them has been increased, including the fine for illegal parking.
He also dismissed the allegation of underhand dealings with the government.
"They [campaigners! are saying wrong things. And they are doing so for the sake of saying something," Enayet added.
About insurance, he said owners still would have to do it, albeit with the Trust to be formed by the government.
About the treatment cost of the injured, Enayet said that under the previous draft, owners were to pay both the insurance premium and the treatment cost, which is conflicting. This has been settled in the new draft.
Contacted, Nazral Islam, secretary of the Road Transport and Highway Division, said the changes were made by the law ministry at the vetting stage, in consultation with all the stakeholders.
Further changes can be made before the bill is passed in parliament, the secretary added.
The Daily Star tried to reach Law Minister Anisul Huq, but he did not pick up the call.