Traffic police vs auto rickshaws, like a game of cat and mouse!

Long traffic jams have become a daily issue for people on the roads of the capital. And the main reason for this traffic jam is the dominance of auto rickshaws on the road which has no legality. As a result, accidents often occur when these three-wheeled vehicles lose control. Many people are also losing their lives.

Although the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic Department has taken strict measures to control auto rickshaws, it is not yielding results. Basically, auto rickshaw drivers change their routes as soon as they sense the presence of the police on the road. As a result, the traffic police, who are conducting operations against these auto rickshaws, are playing a 'cat and mouse game' with the auto rickshaw drivers, according to those concerned.

According to the police's traffic department, nearly a lakh auto rickshaws have been dumped so far. Regular operations are also ongoing.

However, even though the operations are ongoing, law and order personnel are struggling to control them. Last September, the traffic police took action against 20,000 battery-powered rickshaws in the capital alone in one week. The DMP's media and public relations department said that during the seven-day drive from September 22 to 28, the electrical connections of 9,301 auto-rickshaws were disconnected. Along with this, 4,159 rickshaw seats were also seized.

During the drive, 660 battery-operated rickshaws were dumped and 3 rickshaw batteries were seized. Other measures were taken against 5,839 rickshaws. Despite regular drives, auto-rickshaw violence is increasing day by day on the roads of the capital. As a result, accidents are happening regularly.

Responding to a question about what kind of initiatives the traffic police is taking to control the dominance of battery-operated auto-rickshaws on main roads or what kind of measures are being taken against them, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Additional Police Commissioner for Traffic, Khondaker Nazmul Hasan, told Barta24.com, "If we catch battery-operated auto-rickshaws, we send them for dumping. We are also conducting regular drives to reduce their dominance on the roads of the capital. If we catch them in the drive, we dump batteries and rickshaws. We are taking one or the other action against them.’

When asked how many batteries or rickshaws have been dumped so far in the drive, he said, ‘We have dumped about a lakh so far. This situation is going on, it’s a game of cat and mouse.’

‘It’s not the police’s job to show these things’

When asked what kind of action is being taken against the manufacturers, this police officer said, ‘Is it the police’s job to take action against those who are making these auto-rickshaws? Do they have permission? Are they legal? Are their licenses in order? It’s not the police’s job to show these things. Those who do these things; they have to take action against these manufacturing companies.’

When asked about the control of auto-rickshaws to several officers responsible for traffic control on the road, the traffic police officials said that they are not allowed to talk about it. A police officer who did not want to be named said, ‘senior officials can talk about this. We are forbidden to speak. Permission is required to make any statement on any subject.’

The capital Dhaka is one of the most densely populated areas in the country. If we look at the latest 2024 census report, it can be seen that the number of people living in this city and its surrounding districts is about 4 crore 57 lakh. And according to the 2014 Bureau of Statistics’ slum census, the number of slum dwellers in the country is about 23 lakh and the total number of houses in a total of 3,394 slums in the two city corporations of Dhaka city is about 175,000. According to this estimate, about 650,000 people live in these slums, which has increased manifold in the last 10 years.

This rickshaw is one of the means of livelihood for most of the men living in the slums of the capital. As a result, the exact statistics of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws plying in the capital remain in the dark, just like the number of people living in the slums.

According to several relevant sources, no organization has any accurate information about the number of rickshaws in the capital.

Meanwhile, sources have revealed that there are an estimated 400,000 illegal rickshaws in the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) area and 400,000 to 500,000 in the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) area.

In addition, the number of new rickshaws is increasing every day on the roads of the capital. A large number of them are battery-powered. Rickshaw drivers are comfortable driving battery-powered rickshaws to reduce physical pain. As a result, owners are also adding batteries to rickshaws. Along with this, the number of accidents is also increasing. Last Thursday (November 7), a man named Yusuf (65) lost his life after being hit by an auto-rickshaw in the Demra- Bamail area of the capital.

What is the solution, what do experts say?

Professor Dr. Md. Hadiuzzaman, Director of the Accident Research Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), spoke to Barta24.com on the question of auto-rickshaw control and rehabilitation. He said, 'The police are working. They are filing cases, but this is not a solution. We have numerous local garages around Dhaka city. These local garages are being produced. If production is not stopped, it cannot be controlled.’

‘Illegal production is being done in garages, so raids should be conducted on garages. The import of battery-powered rickshaw equipment should be controlled. If imports are not controlled, there is no point in just taking rickshaws from the road,’ said this communication expert.

The number of auto-rickshaws has reached such a level that it is affecting the livelihood of many people is dependent on the road, it has also become a complex problem - Dr. Md. Hadiuzzaman thinks.

Stating that this problem with auto-rickshaws cannot be reduced overnight, he said, 'In that case, the government should formulate some policies very quickly. First, there should be a scientific calculation of how much road capacity there will be and how many such rickshaws will be allowed to ply. Not only battery-powered rickshaws will ply on the road, but also various types of vehicles, starting from private cars. That is why it is very important to formulate such policies on how many auto-rickshaws will ply on the road.'

Dr. Hadiuzzaman blames many government-related organizations for creating this crisis. In this context, he said, 'Because BRTA did not give approval, now everyone is building garages as they wish. The government should develop a standard. The way auto-rickshaws are being built, they are far from a scientific structure. It has many types of weaknesses, including structural weaknesses, dumping, which also cause accidents. For that, technical instructions need to be prepared.’

He believes that the issue of 800,000 battery-powered auto rickshaw drivers living with their families in Dhaka city for their livelihood should be looked at from a human perspective. The director of BUET’s Accident Research Institute said, ‘Even if a family has 4 members, about 32 lakh people depend on these rickshaws for their livelihood. The policy is still weak. That is why after the excessive increase in motorcycles, it is no longer possible to control them. The same is true of battery-powered rickshaws.’

Experts say the lack of coordinated action is the reason for this chaos in the transport sector. They say that manufacturing autorickshaw equipment has now become a kind of industry. In this case, there is a matter of approval from the Ministry of Industries. They are raising the question of whether the motors and batteries that are coming to the country from outside are coming without the approval of the Ministry of Commerce.

‘Although BRTA says that they have not approved it and they do not control these, but I will say that BRTA is the regulatory body. "After the traffic police come on the road, they are checking whether the auto rickshaw has a license and whether it is legal. But where it is produced and imported, all our important stakeholders must have participation. But there is a lot of weakness in this area. That is why these auto rickshaws are increasing in number. To stop this, we have to control them from the root. Just removing them from the road will not do," added Hadiuzzaman.