The government will take action against officials of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority from top to bottom if it does not improve its services within the next one month.
The authorities have also asked the officials to take steps to improve its fitness checking and driving licence delivery services by taking assistance from private institutions such as other garages, driving schools and police.
At a press briefing held at Bidyut Bhaban on Thursday, the adviser to the interim government for road transport and bridges ministry, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, said these.
The press briefing was followed by a meeting titled 鈥楽trengthening order in the road transport sector, easing traffic congestion in Dhaka metropolitan city and controlling air pollution鈥�.
Four advisers to the interim government including environment, forest, and climate change adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan, housing and public works, and industries adviser Adilur Rahman Khan and shipping, and labour and employment adviser retired brigadier general M Sakhawat Hussain attended the meeting.
The chief adviser鈥檚 special assistant, Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, and the inspector general of police Baharul Alam were also present at the briefing.
Fouzul Kabir Khan said that at the meeting they had taken some decisions while the first was made on the BRTA.
鈥楤RTA鈥檚 arrangements for fitness checking and driving licence services are insufficient,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榓s BRTA is failing to carry on these work, corruption is taking place and people are suffering.鈥�
Replying to a question on outsourcing of the BRTA service, he said, 鈥榃e cannot let a public institution to keep people as hostages.鈥�
A decision was also taken that traffic police would identify traffic congestion-prone spots in the capital and from the next week they would take action, he said, adding that police would free footpaths and take action against illegal parking, and letters would be sent to educational institutions via the education ministry to arrange school buses while special training would be given to the public bus drivers to get the public service vehicle licence.
Fouzul Kabir Khan further said that from February 25 company-bus operation on nine routes under the Green Cluster under the Nagar Paribahan would start running in the capital on a pilot basis and from May 2025 the buses, older than 20 years, and the trucks, older than 25 years, would be made off-street.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that the government had already formed a taskforce to prevent air pollution but it would not be shut within one or two months or one year.
鈥榃e are trying to reduce public sufferings now,鈥� she said, adding that they have a plan to declare Ashulia as brick kiln-free area.
Khoda Baksh Chowdhury said that formulation of a law for bringing the rickshaw and battery-run rickshaws under registration was in the final stage.