Govt urged for strict monitoring

The government should strengthen its monitoring and enforcing system to prevent CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers from overcharging passengers, demanded road safety activists yesterday.

They also emphasised raising public awareness to maintain discipline in the transport sector.

Road transport experts, transport owners and drivers, politicians and government officials were speaking at a discussion on CNG-run auto-rickshaw fare organised by Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association at Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday.

Reading out a written statement, Mozzammel Hoque Chowdhury, the association's secretary general, said auto-rickshaw drivers are charging fare more than the revised rate set by the government.

Although the population Dhaka city is rapidly increasing, the government has fixed 13,000 as the ceiling number of CNGs in the capital. So, the shortage of auto-rickshaws creates opportunities for drivers to overcharge passengers, he said.

The association also demanded, among others, increasing the number of three-wheelers in Dhaka and Chittagong cities; keeping a chart with information on fare, auto-rickshaw's rental price and contact number for complaints in every three-wheeler; and ensuring that all three-wheelers travel per passengers' desired routes. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Secretary Showkat Ali also spoke .