Toll-seeking cops
MSH, Dhaka
Administration's crackdown on toll collectors at bus terminals is definitely a welcome move. The bus owners and operators must be happy. They are relieved of paying 50 to 100 taka a day. But this hardly saves the owners and the operators from the clutches of government employed toll collectors that is the traffic sergeants. A bus plying in city area must pay minimum 100 taka per trip. On average, each town service bus ply four to five times a day, thereby has to pay 400 to 500 taka per day. Moreover, as buses have to ply between different areas of administrative jurisdiction, on many occasions the toll money increases. Even after that, to meet their allotted quota traffic sergeants prosecute the buses at a regular interval for no profound reason. Private wreckers are used to towing 'rogue' buses adding misery to the bus owner. If a tow chain is joined to the bus, the owner has to pay 1000 taka as wrecker charge. The owner of wrecker and traffic authority share the booty. Most of the buses plying in Dhaka city roads are purchased on bank loans. Add to this the cost of route permit, registration, and many other fees that an owner has to pay to different government agencies. Toll collection, indiscriminate prosecution and so-called wrecker charges make the operation a losing concern. Most of the bus owners cannot pay the bank instalments in time. So, when we congratulate the government for crackdown on bus terminals, we must not fail to urge upon the authority to look into the GOB's sector that levies toll from buses. If the transport business can be made profitable, better services can be provided to the general passengers.
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