Increased tax on cars
Amdadul Huq / Driknews
Car prices have been increased in this budget as our finance minister had already said it in his pre-budget press conference. Now my question to him is, can he show us one reason why people would not think of owning a car in Dhaka city? So far, have we been able to do anything for our transport system that would prevent people from buying a car? Probably not. These days the car is no more a luxury thing but an essential one, especially for the middle income people, believe me or not. For instance, if you want to go to your relative's house with your wife and children, how would you go? Option 1, CNG auto-rickshaw or taxi cab. They become unavailable during the rush hour. Again, you would hardly get any of them that would want to go to your desired destination. Luckily if you get one, then it would charge you almost double the actual fare. In addition to the sufferings, CNG auto-rickshaws and taxicabs become a risky transport after dusk. Option 2, Bus. Well, a bus does not maintain time schedule making it a time consuming mode of transport. And when it comes, it remains overloaded. Most of the time it becomes difficult to find a place to stand inside the bus. Option 3, rickshaw. Most of the Dhaka city roads are off-limit to rickshaws and it is necessary to keep the roads free from traffic jam. So, absolutely nothing is there . Recently, I came across a news report that people do not arrange social gatherings very often. Why not? Would you pay a visit to your relative's house considering all these hassles while travelling? We understand that we don't have many roads and private cars are mostly responsible for traffic jam. But it can't prevent people from owning a car. Statistics show that private cars occupy 70% of the road space while carrying only 1.3% of passengers. The situation will not improve unless we construct new roads and modernize our transport system.
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