Plying the roads despite HC ban

Several thousand battery-powered rickshaws are causing unbearable traffic jams in Tangail town, despite a ban from the higher court. Residents are struggling with regular traffic jams due to the large number of illegal vehicles on the roads.

Furthermore, these vehicles are required to be charged, which in turn causes frequent power outages. The owners and drivers of these rickshaws claim that they are operating legally after obtaining licences from the municipal authorities.

According to the licencing department of Tangail municipality, there are 5000 licensed pedal-operated rickshaws in the town. However, almost all the rickshaws seen on the streets are battery-operated. The municipal authority claims that battery-run rickshaws are plying with the licence of pedal-operated rickshaws after adding batteries.

However, rickshaw pullers and owners claim that they paid a large sum of money to the municipality's licencing section to get approval for their battery-powered vehicles.

Tangail Municipality set the licencing cost for a pedal-run rickshaw at Tk 1,000. However, the officials charged from Tk 10,000 up to Tk 25,000 per rickshaw, alleged battery-run rickshaw owners. According to them, the extra money was taken as bribes to disregard these rickshaws that already had batteries installed.

The one-year licenses signed by the current mayor of Tangail Municipality SM Sirajul Haque Alamgir were approved in 2021 in the first phase. This means some rickshaw licences have already expired. The rickshaw licenses signed in the second phase in 2022 are valid till June 2023.

Similar anomalies have been alleged in licencing of battery-powered easy bikes (three-wheelers). Battery-powered easy bike owners have claimed that although the licencing fee for a three-wheeler is Tk 10,500, the municipality has taken Tk 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh from them. However, easy bike licencing was done under the previous municipality authority.

"First the authorities confiscated our rickshaws. Then they made us pay a fat amount of money as licencing fees. I paid Tk 12,000 to get my vehicle back," said rickshaw driver Jasim Miah of Akurtakurpara.

Hazrat Ali, another rickshaw driver from Basakhanpur area, said, "I have got the licence by paying Tk 20,000 as easy bike was written in the licence book."

These battery-powered vehicles are causing acute traffic jams in many areas of the town, including the Main Road, Baby Stand, Shantikunja Intersection, Nirala Intersection, Parkbazar Intersection, Capsule Market, Old Bus Stand, Supari Bagan Intersection, Kumudini College Gate, and New Bus Terminal areas.

The traffic police department is struggling to keep traffic in the city normal due to the large number of vehicles plying the roads. However, they have not got any instructions from the relevant authorities to seize these vehicles, said Tangail traffic inspector Delwar Hossain.

"The previous mayor of the municipality had given licenses to 4,000 battery-operated easy bikes illegally. The current mayor is continuing the trend. These vehicles have caused regular gridlocks and power outages in the town, making our life unbearable," said Arman Kabir, a resident of College Para area.

The municipality mayor, SM Sirajul Haque Alamgir, claims that he has not issued any battery-powered rickshaw licences.

"Earlier, when we seized these battery-run vehicles, we had to release them on request of the higher authorities."