City corporation dismissal order reveals irregularities that led to student's death

The death of Notre Dame College student Nayeem Hasan, who was run over by a city corporation garbage truck in Gulistan, has sparked an uproar among his peers as they took to the streets for the second to demand justice on Thursday.

Police made an arrest in the wake of the incident but it has now transpired that the man they said was responsible for operating the vehicle was not the driver assigned by the city corporation.

Moreover, the man behind the wheel at the time of the accident, Rasel Khan, is not an employee of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), according to officials.

The city corporation's dismissal order has shed light on the course of events that led to the accident.

According to the order, the vehicle's designated driver Iran Mia had handed over the responsibility of the truck to cleaner Harun Mia.

Harun in turn Rasel in charge of the vehicle. Another DSCC cleaner, Abdur Razzak, was also on the truck during the accident.

The city corporation later sacked both Harun and Razzak while suspending Iran amid heated protests by students who marched to Nagar Bhaban on Thursday to demand action.

Rasel was arrested on Wednesday and has since been placed on a three-day remand in connection with the accident.

After the crash, police said Harun was the driver of the truck while Rasel was a cleaner who doubled up as the proxy driver.

In a media briefing on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Ahad of DMP's Motijheel Division said efforts are being made to apprehend Harun for giving the vehicle's keys to Rasel.

"Harun is also responsible for this accident. Why did he let Rasel, who does not have a licence, drive the truck?”

But now, it has emerged that Harun, too, is a cleaner, not a driver.

Asked about Rasel, Dhaka South City Corporation spokesman Abu Naser, said, "He has no ties to the city corporation so I can't say anything about him. "

"The practice of using proxy drivers to operate city corporation vehicles has been going on for a long time. Although there are more than 300 heavy vehicles for waste management, they don't even have 100 drivers. And many of the hired drivers do not drive the vehicles themselves. Instead, they let someone else drive.”

Dhaka South Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh vowed to bring all those involved in the accident to justice.

Speaking to protesters on the Nagar Bhaban premises on Thursday, he said, "The person who was supposed to drive the truck did not fulfil his responsibility and hired another driver instead.

"Both of them will be punished. We have suspended the original driver and we will ensure the maximum punishment for the man who was driving the vehicle.”

Meanwhile, another man was run over by a garbage truck in Panthapath on Thursday. The vehicle belonged to the Dhaka North City Corporation.

City corporation rules require garbage trucks to operate at night.

Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Manibur Rahman told bdnews24.com: "Only under special circumstances do the garbage trucks operate at other times.

"We need to find out if there was any special reason for the trucks to be out during the day. Otherwise, the two accidents could have been avoided had the rules been followed."