Preventing Road crashes: A month gone, yet no gazette for taskforce
Almost a month after the formation of a “high level” taskforce, initiated to curb road accidents and bring discipline to the transport section, the government is yet to issue a circular or gazette in this regard.
Due to this, the taskforce, led by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, could not start work yet.
When the taskforce was formed on September 5, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said it would begin functioning “soon”. Asked yesterday, Quader once again said, “It will start very soon.”
About the delay, noted columnist Syed Abul Maksud, also a member of the taskforce, said “This is a manifestation of the authority’s lack of seriousness over the issue. I am frustrated.”
The taskforce, formed at the 27th meeting of National Road Safety Council (NRSC), will work on implementing 111 recommendations placed by a committee led by former minister Shajahan Khan in April.
It is supposed to comprise the inspector general of police, secretaries to the relevant ministries, chiefs of different government bodies concerned and representatives from transport owners’ and workers’ organisations.
Transport expert Prof Shamsul Haque and Nirapad Sarak Chai Chairman Ilias Kanchan will also be its members, while secretary to the Road Transport and Highway Division will be its member secretary.
Amid growing concerns over road crashes, the Shajahan Khan-led committee was formed in the 26th NRSC meeting in February and on April 28 it submitted its report to the prime minister with a 111-point recommendation.
NO HEADWAY?
The resolution of the September 5 meeting was signed on September 19, but no gazette in this regard has been issued so far, an official concerned said.
Nazrul Islam, the member secretary of the taskforce, told this correspondent yesterday that they had already sent documents to the cabinet division to issue a gazette.
“We hope the gazette will be issued soon. The taskforce will then start work,” he said.
Talking to this newspaper, Abul Maksud said, “This is an urgent issue. But I am surprised that there is no progress in this regard even after three weeks.”
“If at least a single meeting was held, we could have set modalities of our work. But nothing happened,” he lamented.
He cast doubt over the success of the taskforce as most of its members are ex-officio, who are already burdened with their own tasks. Besides, it would be difficult to hold meetings of the taskforce mainly because of the large number of members.
“There should have been a smaller team -- five to six members -- with dedicated manpower who will regularly monitor the implementation of the recommendations and submit reports to the taskforce,” he suggested.
“It would have been better if the taskforce could be given a permanent structure.”
Asked when the taskforce will start work, Obaidul Quader said, “We are taking preparations in this regard. There is no reason for further delay. It will start work as soon as possible.”
Quader, also the general secretary of ruling Awami League, said he had already spoken to the home minister and asked him to convene a meeting to start the implementation.
ROAD TRANSPORT ACT-2018
While different newspapers have been reporting that the government is mulling amendment to the Road Transport Act-2018, Quader refuted it.
“These [reports of amendment] are just buzzwords. We did not take any initiative to do this [amendment],” he said.
The parliament passed the Act in September last year but the government did not issue any gazette making the law operative.
Meanwhile, different transport organisations have been demanding amendments to several sections of the law, including making all offences under the law “bailable”.
In February, a three-member committee, led by the home minister, was formed to look into how the Act could be implemented. The committee held its latest meeting on Wednesday.
After the meeting, different media houses ran a report that said the government was going to amend the law giving into the pressure of transport leaders.
Quader, however, said the committee would place their recommendations before the National Road Safety Council at its next meeting.
“I have seen today that TIB [Transparency International Bangladesh] has expressed concerns over it [probable amendment]. But we don’t know where it [TIB] got the news from,” he said.
Quader made the comments while speaking to journalists after visiting an under-construction underpass near Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College on Airport Road in the capital yesterday.
The 24th Engineer Construction Brigade of the Bangladesh Army is constructing the underpass. Two college students were killed in the area in a road crash last year, triggering a massive student protest for safe roads.
The Tk 57 crore project has seen 70 percent progress and is expected to be complete by December this year, Quader said.
Senior army officials were present at the under-construction site with Quader.