Suprobhat Paribahan: 90pc buses ran without papers
Around 90 percent buses of Suprobhat Paribahan had been operating without having necessary clearances that include route permits, fitness certificates and professional licences of the drivers, found a probe committee.
Only 18 out of 163 buses of the company have all the required documents that are valid, said the probe report of the committee formed by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
The committee also found only 13 out of 29 buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan to have all the necessary documents.
BRTA on March 21 formed a five-member committee, led by its director (training), to check documents of all buses of the two companies amid protest over the death of a university student in the capital's Bashundhara area.
Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, a student of Bangladesh University of Professionals, was run over and killed by a bus of Suprobhat Paribahan on March 19.
On July 29, last year, two college students were run over and killed by a bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan, triggering an unprecedented agitation for safe roads. In both cases, the buses were being driven recklessly.
BRTA on March 20 suspended operation of all the buses of the two companies and formed the committee on the following day.
“We have submitted our report to the chairman [of BRTA] on March 27. He is supposed to inform the mayor [of Dhaka North City Corporation] about the findings. Necessary steps to be taken thereafter,” Sirajul Islam, head of the committee, told The Daily Star yesterday.
FINDINGS
Out of 163 buses of Suprobhat Paribahan, fitness certificates of 29 buses were expired while tax tokens of 14 buses and route permits of two buses were expired.
Drivers of 104 buses do not have licences of the required category. Having a heavy vehicle driving licence is a must to drive a bus and as per the law, a driver must have at least six years of driving experience to be eligible for such a licence.
Besides, the bus company did not submit driving licences of 32 drivers.
BRTA suspended route permit and registration of the bus (Dhaka Metro Ba 11-4135) that was involved in the March 19 accident and cancelled the driving licence of the driver.
On the other hand, the authorities of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan submitted the documents of only seven buses out of 29. Of them, six buses were found to have all the necessary documents, the committee said.
The committee examined the documents of 21 other vehicles by crosschecking information stored in the BRTA server and found 10 of them to have their fitness certificates, tax tokens and route permits updated.
However, the committee could not check licences of the drivers of these vehicles as the company did not provide any documents against those buses.
BRTA had cancelled registration of a Jabal-e-Noor bus (Dhaka Metro-Ba 11-7657) involved in the accident on July 29 last year.
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