CNG autorickshaw drivers blame ministry for not registering 5000 vehicles in their names

CNG-powered autorickshaws to drivers have faulted the apathy of the ministry for the delay in implementation of the government decision to allocate the vehicles to them.

Back in 2007, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology under the caretaker government decided to register 5,000 autorickshaws under the names of drivers.

The High Court stalled the move on a petition of autorickshaw owners' association which the Supreme Court scrapped in 2013.

In March, 2013, the minister for roads, transport and bridges ordered Bangladesh Road Transport Authority or BRTA to start the registration process.

Following a long spell of exchange of letters among different quarters, the BRTA sent the proposal to the ministry in December last year. Since then the ministry has been sitting on the issue.

Abdul Bashar, a resident of Bhola, has been driving autorickshaw for the last 20 years in Dhaka.

Bashar now has lost hope. He submitted his driving licence and related documents to BRTA back in 2008 but is yet to get an autorickshaw. 

"We got nothing although so many years have gone by. It’s a government eyewash," he said.

 Another driver, Aslam Sheikh, alleged that only the rich got the vehicles.

"I am penniless. Had I have my own autorickhaw, I could live a better life with my children. If you dig into the matter, you will find out that only the rich got the autorickshaws," he told bdnews24.com.

Driver Anisur Rahman said they charge exorbitant fares because they need to pay the lion's share of their earnings to the owners. "If I were the owner, I would have charged passengers as per the rate fixed by the government."

"The ministry seems to have deliberately kept it on hold," said Golam Faruq, General Secretary of Bangladesh Autorickshaw-Autotempo Transport Workers Federation.

"The case that the owners started was dismissed four years ago. Now there is no legal hurdle, and yet the BRTA and the ministry are exchanging letters," he said. 

When approached, BRTA Chairman Moshiar Rahman said: "BRTA can proceed if ministry makes the decision. Otherwise, we have nothing to do. As far as I know, there has been no progress on the matter."

MAN Siddiq, Secretary to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Bridges, told bdnews24.com that as per the guidelines approved by the Cabinet, 13,000 autorickshaws are already registered in Dhaka.

"We cannot extend the number. There are legal bars. I cannot say anything further.

"BRTA has made the proposal but nothing can be done unless the laws and guidelines are amended."