Vehicles seeking fitness clearance drops to a 7-year low

Despite a sharp rise in vehicle registration in the last fiscal year, the number of vehicles seeking fitness clearance has dropped to a seven-year low during this period, raising serious concerns over road safety.

As a result, the number of vehicles without fitness clearances hit a record high. 

A total of 5.42 lakh registered vehicles, which were supposed to go through fitness tests, did not take the mandatory fitness clearance certificates and are operating on the roads, allegedly due to poor monitoring by the authorities.

A huge rise in advance income tax (AIT) amount from July 1, 2021 and decision to give fitness clearance to three types of private vehicles biennially from January 2020, instead of annually, are the major reasons behind the poor number, officials said.

Apart from vehicles that have been registered but did not take fitness clearance, thousands of unregistered vehicles are running without undergoing any fitness tests. 

Unfit vehicles, one of the major concerns about road safety, are claiming more lives, making it major worry for the authorities.

A total of 3,186 people died and 3,500 were injured in 3,776 road accidents in first eight month of this year, according to police report, which is much lower than the estimate of other non-government organisations.

Till June this year, 52.92 lakh vehicles, mostly motorbikes, got registered with Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), of which 5.23 lakh got registered in the last fiscal year. The number of vehicles registered in 2020-21 fiscal were 4.24 lakh.

All vehicles, except for motorcycles, need to take fitness clearance, however, new cars, SUVs and microbuses are not required to have it in the first five years and after that period, they have to get fitness clearance once every two years.

Only 5.64 lakh vehicles took fitness clearance in last fiscal year, which is the lowest number since 2014-15 fiscal year, shows BRTA data. The number of vehicles that took fitness clearance certificates in 2020-21, when BRTA offices remained shut for a long time due to Covid-19 pandemic, was 6.75 lakh.

A top BRTA official said the amount of advance income tax a vehicle owner has to pay while taking fitness clearance saw around 50 percent rise since July 1, 2021.

A vehicle, between 1501cc to 2000cc, has to pay Tk 50,000 which was Tk 30,000 before July, he said.

"This is a major reason behind the sharp fall of vehicles taking fitness clearance. The huge amount of money is discouraging people," he told this correspondent seeking anonymity.

Another BRTA official said there are some vehicles like human haulers and trucks, who has to pay "ransom" to get a fitness clearance, so they do not go for it altogether.

He said three types of vehicles -- cars, SUVs and microbuses -- had to take fitness clearances annually before January 2020. Now, they have to take clearance once in two years, so the number of vehicles seeking the clearance fell, he said wishing not to be named.

In this given situation, the number of vehicles without fitness clearance is growing gradually, shows BRTA data.

Around 5.42 lakh registered vehicles, which are eligible for fitness test, did not renew their documents till October 15. The number was 5.08 lakh in January and 4.79 lakh in July 2019.

However, the actual number of registered but unfit vehicles may not be that high because many of the 5.42 vehicles may not plying the streets anymore, another BRTA official said.