Govt vehicles violate rules more than private ones, allege protesters
The protesting students claimed that almost all the police vehicles they checked violated regulations in someway
Students protesting in demand of safe roads in Rampura stopped a police van going towards Mouchak around 12:30pm and sought its registration papers and the licence of the constable who was driving it. Surprisingly, they found that the vehicle was not registered and the licence of the driver – constable Mobarok – had expired.
When the protesters demanded filing a case over the irregularities, the law enforcers, including the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner (Motijheel Division), started dilly dallying. However, in the face of strong protests by the students, the traffic sergeant there fined Mobarok Tk5,000 and the students let the van go at around 1:45pm.
"We found that the government vehicles, including the ones owned by the police, violate regulations more than the private ones," said a protester named Ovi, adding, "Surprisingly, almost all the police vehicles we checked violated regulations in some way. The absence of registration is the most common irregularity we found."
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Asked why the police were reluctant to file a case against the unregistered vehicle, DMP Deputy Commissioner (Motijheel Division) Mohammad Nurul Amin told The Business Standard, "We usually register a number of our vehicles at a time. The van the students stopped was a new one. It will be registered shortly."
He also said, "Checking licences is not the students' duty. We are trying to stop them from doing it. We are trying to persuade them to go back home to reduce public suffering."
Regarding the government vehicles violating regulations, Ovi said, "Yesterday [Tuesday] we stopped a car belonging to the income tax office. It had no papers.
"The driver said he had submitted an application for a licence but had not received it yet. But, he could not show any receipt against the application."
He said they had also found an army vehicle without licence.
The students stopped another police vehicle owned by a senior police officer, and found out that its driver's licence had expired. Police fined the driver Tk5,000.
Besides, a microbus owned by the Roads and Highways Department had no relevant documents at all. Students took the driver to the police box where a sergeant fined him Tk5,000 for not carrying papers.
About the condition of buses, an activist named Mainul said, "The poor condition of buses is beyond description. Most of the buses we found have no legal papers."
