Lagunas allowed on feeder roads
Human hauliers, popularly known as Laguna, can operate on feeder roads in the city from today, following a decision made in this regard at a meeting between Laguna owners and officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday.
However, the vehicles and its drivers must have all documents updated and no underage drivers will be allowed to drive them.
The decisions were taken at a meeting at DMP headquarters attended by 20 to 22 Laguna owners and top officials of DMP's traffic division, police and Laguna owners said.
DMP on September 4 announced that Lagunas will not be allowed on the streets of the capital from the following day. But banning them without putting any alternatives in place caused immense sufferings for its regular users across the city.
Bangladesh Auto-rickshaw-Auto-Tempo Transport Workers Federation protested the ban, claiming that Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) gave registration to more than 4,000 Lagunas in the city and the Regional Transport Committee (RTC) gave route permits for the vehicles on 159 routes.
Lagunas will be operated on the feeder roads only, not in main roads where buses are available, Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, joint commissioner of traffic (south), who attended the meeting, told this newspaper. He also claimed Laguna drivers stopped plying their vehicle even on the feeder roads without knowing details of the instruction.
DMP did not ban Laguna on feeder roads.
Delwar Hossain Chunnu, managing director of Dhaka Indira Paribahan Private Limited, who led the Laguna owners at the meeting, said they will resume operation of Lagunas on feeder roads from today morning.
No Laguna will be allowed on Gabtoli-Mohakhali, Mirpur 1-Mohakhali and Mohammadpur-Mohakhali routes as per police decisions, he said.
Police will take decision about the Farmgate-Mohammadpur and Farmgate-Hazaribagh routes in two or three days, he added.
Mir Rezaul Alam, DMP's additional commissioner (traffic) and Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, joint commissioner of traffic (north) were present, among others.
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