Cops using tow trucks to extort money
Transport owners and workers yesterday alleged that policemen were using tow trucks in the capital to extort money from drivers.
They made the allegations during a discussion organised by Dhaka Metropolitan Police on bus services at Rajarbagh Police Lines.
The owners and workers even made a commotion when Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah in his speech said police do not use the tow trucks unnecessarily.
The commissioner later said action would be taken against police officials if they used the tow trucks “to show off power and make money”.
The commissioner said police would use tow trucks if anyone obstructed the road by haphazardly parking vehicles. Similar action would be taken for speeding and creating panic.
Khondaker Enayet Ullah, general secretary of Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association, said, “Vehicles owners are exasperated by the nuisance of tow trucks. It would be wrong if you term it misuse, it rather has become a business. This must be stopped.”
Enayet also said bus stops designated by police should be rationalised.
Asaduzzaman said the DMP had held meetings with transport owners and workers several times in the last five years to discuss how to bring order on roads and to identify the challenges. But the issues have never been properly addressed as other government stakeholders, including city corporations and the Wasa, did not make any coordinated efforts, he said.
DMP traffic department has marked 167 bus stops. Besides, metal pillars were installed on pavements to stop motorbikes from getting on them and these are not the job of the DMP, he added.
The bus terminals have turned into bus depots. The depots were supposed to be on the outskirts of the city, said the DMP boss.
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