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The government has allowed the transport of passengers by filling the seats of buses and minibuses with three conditions. Passengers will not be allowed to stand, passengers and transportation workers will be required to wear masks and must return to fare before the crowning period. But questions remain about how effective the higher rental cancellation will be.
The Minister of Road Transport reported on the new bus-minibus movement decision in a video conference with officials from the Dhaka Area Roads and Highways Department from his residence on Saturday.
Obaidul Quader, the Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, recently informed the media about the skepticism that has already arisen about the return of previous rates.
The owners did not comply with the conditions under which the bus-minibus fare was increased due to the situation in Corona. There is also the question of whether the transport owners will implement the cancellation of the fare increase. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of the Passenger Welfare Association, expressed concern about this, telling Kaler Kantha: “Before increasing fares by 70 percent, bus owners were taking higher fares. However, we wanted the previous increase of 60 percent to be withdrawn.
Although the bus owners have written letters asking for the fare increase to be withdrawn. Different bus companies in the capital charge different rates. There is no list of rates for minibuses that circulate in the capital. Some large buses have a fare list, but most buses do not have a fare list.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the government announced the closure of public transportation on March 26. Subsequently, conditional public transport was introduced as of June 1. Public transportation was introduced on a limited scale with various conditions, including half of the vacant seats. Transportation workers and passengers must ensure that they wear masks in accordance with hygiene standards, hand sanitizer before boarding the passenger, and disinfect the bus with disinfectant leaving the passenger on each trip. Promising to meet those conditions, the government increased the rent by 60 percent, although the owners demanded a 60 percent increase.
During the coronation period, the transport owners accepted the conditions for a time, but before Eid-ul-Azha, everything fell apart. The government did not give conditions. However, 60 percent of the rent increase has been taken. After this situation, there was a demand from various sectors to withdraw the rent increase. On August 12, the attorney for the Supreme Court. Attorney Md. Atiqur Rahman. Hasim Uddin filed a court petition requesting the revocation of the rent increase. Earlier on August 11, the Secretary General of the Passenger Welfare Association, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, made this demand at a press conference. On August 23, he sent a statement to the media demanding the same. On August 18, bus owners associations submitted a letter to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) requesting the withdrawal of the bus fare increase in response to demands from people from different walks of life. In response to the letter, a meeting was held on August 19 with BRTA authorities, bus owner organizations and labor leaders at the BRTA headquarters in Banani. Bus owners want to withdraw the fare increase in the condition of passenger transport by filling seats. At that time, the BRTA authorities sent a recommendation to the cabinet to withdraw the increased fare by making it mandatory not to carry passengers and wear masks. Under this condition, public transportation will be introduced from September 1.
When asked if the bus owners would comply with the new conditions, Khandaker Enayetullah, general secretary of the Dhaka District Road Transport Owners Association, told Kaler Kantha: “We have sent a letter requesting the withdrawal of the increase rate “. Agreements were reached in meetings with employer-workers and BRTA officials. With the withdrawal of the rent increase, we and the workers will be relieved of the daily fights.
Even before Corona, it has been seen that from Mirpur in Dhaka to Sadarghat, Joykali Mandir, Motijheel to Prajapati, Shikhar, Dishari and other transports, passengers are required a fare of Rs 20, no matter where the passenger is. There is no list of bus fares. Now passengers have no way of knowing if the increased fare was actually dropped or not. It has been previously observed that a public notice is never issued in the interest of informing passengers about the list of long-distance public transport fares in the capital.
In such a situation, whether the withdrawal of the increased tariff is effective or not, the Chairman of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, Shahjahan Khan, told Kaler Kantha: “We will force it. Because the owner-worker and the government agree on the issue.
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