HC bans 3-wheelers on highways
The High Court yesterday imposed a ban on plying of improvised motorised three-wheelers, known as Nasimon, Karimon, Bhatboti, on highways across the country to reduce the number of road crashes.
The court directed the government to take legal action against those who will run such poorly engineered locally made vehicles on the highways defying the ban.
The HC also asked the authorities concerned to submit reports on compliance of the directives before the court in every six months.
Yesterday, the bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo came up with the verdict after hearing a writ petition filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking necessary orders to stop plying of these vehicles on highways.
Following the petition, the HC earlier on February 10, 2014, had ordered the government to withdraw theses vehicles from highways in 10 districts -- Jessore, Khulna, Jhenaidah, Magura, Meherpur, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Norail, Kustia and Chuadanga.
During hearing earlier, petitioner's counsel Manzill Murshid told the court that hundreds of people across the country lose their lives everyday due to plying of unfit and illegal vehicles on the highways.
Earlier on July 27, 2015, Road Transport and Bridges Ministry also issued an order, banning the three-wheelers and other slow-moving and unfit vehicles on 22 highways to curb road accidents and loss of lives. The order came into effect on August 1.
A day after enforcing the ban, transport owners and drivers on August 2, 2015, put barricades on different highways protesting the ban and clashed with law enforcers, leaving at least 20 people injured and 75 vehicles damaged.
Later, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader and Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique at several programmes announced that the ban would strictly be enforced.
But these slow-moving vehicles are still plying defying the ban.
Talking to The Daily Star, Kazi Md Shifun Newaz, assistant professor of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet, said operation of such vehicles is one of the major causes of accidents on the highways.
He also underscored the need for constructing separate lanes for such vehicles considering huge public demand for these vehicles.
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