No battery-run rickshaws now
Illegal battery-run auto-rickshaws have stopped plying the busy Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar area after Communications Minister Obaidul Quader intervened a week ago .
Quader, who was visiting Savar, observed that a huge number auto-rickshaws running on the highway caused traffic jam there. The minister expressed his anger at the local administration and immediately ordered them to stop the vehicles from plying the highway.
“These vehicles can run on link roads but not on the highway, I do not want to see them plying the highway,” he said.
After the minister's order, commuters have not seen any battery-run auto-rickshaw on the Dhaka-Aricha highway till yesterday.
“If the minister orders for removal of makeshift shops from the highway, then the highway will be completely free of traffic congestion,” said Atikul Islam Bipul, a student who uses the highway regularly.
Expressing doubt whether the minister's order will be followed in a long-term context, he said, “We will just have to wait and see how long the auto-rickshaws stay off the highway.”
Over 2,000 illegal battery-run auto-rickshaws used to ply the highway regularly, said transport owners.
Meanwhile, Savar police said their earlier attempts to keep the vehicles off the highway were thwarted by some local political leaders.
Battery-run auto-rickshaw drivers claimed they have been paying Tk 20 to Tk 50 daily to an organisation, Battery-run Auto-rickshaw Owners' and Drivers' Association, to run on the highway.
The organisation is run by local Jubo League leaders, the drivers and police claimed.
However, Faruk Hasan Tuhin, organising secretary of central committee of Jubo League, who lives in Savar, denied the allegation.
“Jubo League is in no way involved in this. Police just want to make Jubo League a scapegoat,” he said, adding that if any Jubo League activist is found to be involved, action will taken.
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