A dispute among different authorities concerned over the initiative to launch company-based bus operations in the capital Dhaka under the bus route rationalisation project has surfaced.
Recently an inter-ministerial committee having the highest number of members from the Bangladesh Police has decided to introduce company-based bus services on 21 new routes, going beyond its jurisdiction.
As per rules, the Dhaka Metro Passenger and Goods Transport Committee is mandated only to give route permits.
The Dhaka Transport Coordination Committee, the implementing agency of the project, gave objections to the routes as almost all of these would overlap the project routes.聽
In these circumstances, the interim government鈥檚 road transports and bridges adviser, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, on Tuesday asked the committee to cancel the 21 routes.
鈥楾he police issued the new routes and they were asked to cancel the routes,鈥� he told 抖阴精品 on Wednesday referring to the police-dominated committee.
鈥業 also discussed this with the home affairs adviser (retired Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury),鈥� Fouzul said.
Replying to a question, he said that he asked the committee to cancel the routes as the transport authorities were already struggling to operate the existing routes properly.
The plan of running buses under a few companies was initiated back in 1997 under the Dhaka Urban Transport Project to bring order on roads and ease traffic congestion.
Since 2015 late Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Annisul Huq had been setting strategies to implement the plan by the government in cooperation with the other stakeholders, including the Dhaka South City Corporation and the DTCA.
The DTCA is now planning 42 routes for the proposed 22 bus companies under nine clusters under the project.
On April 23, at a meeting of the Dhaka Metro Passenger and Goods Transport Committee, formed following the Road Transport Rules 2022 by replacing the Dhaka Regional Transport Committee, approved the 21 new bus routes.
According to section 60 of the rules, in the case of the jurisdiction of the DTCA, the committee will approve the route permits and the number of buses after coordinating the routes with the DTCA.聽
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner SM Sazzat Ali is the chairman of the committee while Bangladesh Road Transport Authority director Md Shahidullah is the member secretary.
Out of the 31 members of the committee, 12 are from the police, eight from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, five from different transport owners鈥� and workers鈥� associations, one from the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the rest from different government organisations.聽
According to the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority Act, 2012, the DTCA is mandated to take strategic plan for the transport sector in Dhaka and coordinate among all relevant authorities to reduce traffic congestion.
Section 9 of the act reads that the DTCA is mandated to prepare plan for different transport routes and prepare and implement guidelines and plan to set routes and lanes.
Following the rules, the DTCA on June 26 sent their opinions and observations on the 21 routes approved by the inter-ministerial committee, saying that 17 of the new routes would overlap the project鈥檚 routes and three routes were not viable.
DMP additional commissioner (traffic) Md Sarwar on Wednesday said that the bus owners applied for these routes.
Sarwar, also a member of the route committee, said that the committee had given the owners condition that if the owners follow the bus route rationalisation project system, they would get the approval for the routes.
鈥楤ut now the decision on the 21 new bus routes has no effectiveness,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榠n the next meeting of the committee we will make a decision to solve the misunderstanding.鈥�
Earlier this year, the government initiative to launch company-based bus operations on nine routes under the project from February 25 clashed with a similar step taken by the bus owners鈥� association.
Before that, under the project, three routes were inaugurated. Private bus companies had launched their services on the roads, but they later stopped the services as buses of the other companies continued running on these routes.