BRTC planning to buy 600 new buses while wasting one-third of its fleet
Shohel Mamun
Photo:
Syed Zakir Hossain
'I took a BRTC AC bus from Khilket after waiting for 40 minutes under the scorching sun'
The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) plans to procure 600 new buses from India when more than one-third of its fleet remains useless due to a lack of maintenance and negligence of its corrupt officials.
The state-run transport organisation, which owns a fleet of more than 1,500 buses, has decided to purchase the new buses as well as 500 trucks under the second Indian Line of Credit.
BRTC Chairman Mizanur Rahman says they made the decision to improve its transport service in the country.
“A shortage of buses is currently hampering the BRTC service,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. “But it will get better when we add 600 new buses to our fleet in December this year.”
This decision brings the much-talked-about issue of the corruption that infests the BRTC back under the spotlight.
The state-run transport service provider owns 1,539 buses, but 575 of them are out of commission due to negligence on part of the BRTC officials as well as a lack of timely maintenance – a result of corruption.
A recent internal report by the Road Transport and Highways Division has revealed that BRTC officials are directly involved in at least 10 different corruption activities, such as overestimation of maintenance cost, fuel and lubricant purchase and procurement cost of spare parts.
Corrupt BRTC officials are at fault for the 115 buses in the BRTC Depot in Mirpur, Dhaka that have not been repaired and put back on service since they went out of commission. The photo was taken on March 2, 2016
Mahmud Hossain Opu
The field-level officials as well as the BRTC depot managers are especially involved in irregular activities, said a BRTC official.
“The BRTC has bought 275 buses from China since 2010. Of those, at least 115 buses broke down within three years of service due to the lack of maintenance and negligence of field-level staff,” he said, requesting anonymity.
The irregularities have not only caused substantial financial loss to the BRTC, but have caused immense inconvenience to commuters as well.
The lack of maintenance is evident when one rides the BRTC buses – most of them are dirty, have broken seats, and air-conditioning does not work properly in the air-conditioned buses.
“I took a BRTC AC bus from Khilket after waiting for 40 minutes under the scorching sun,” Rezwan Talukder, a passenger who regularly commutes by bus in Dhaka, told the Dhaka Tribune recently. “As I got on the bus, I found out that the AC was not working. I complained to the bus driver and his helper, but they were indifferent. The passengers are helpless in these situations as no one cares to listen to their complaints.”
The corruption has reached such a level that it has angered Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.
In a meeting with BRTC officials on May 24, an exasperated Obaidul asked the BRTC depot managers: “How much more money do you need? Do you plan to swallow the BRTC whole?”
The minister further said the road transport authorities were investigating and marking the corrupt officials in the BRTC.
“They [the corrupt officials] will get an opportunity to correct themselves. If they still continue with the corruption, they will face punishment,” Obaidul said.
He also recommended increasing BRTC’s income with proper planning.
The government already has a plan to do so. The Road Transport and Highways Division has drafted a law titled Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Act 2017, which aims at stemming the corruption at the BRTC as well as boosting its income generation.
Road Transport and Highways Secretary MAN Siddique said the draft would be sent to the Cabinet Division for approval soon.
To raise income, the draft law suggests leasing out BRTC buses to private orgnisations, as well as accepting donations from individuals, institutions and companies – with the government’s permission – to ensure smooth operation.
Meanwhile, several BRTC officials recently demanded that the BRTC staff be included in the government pay structure.
The BRTC currently pays its staff their salaries from its income; any fund shortages is covered with government loans.
Including BRTC in the government pay structure would mean that the officials would get paid by the government whether the BRTC made money or not.
That is unlikely to happen, said MAN Siddique.
“The government has no plan to include the BRTC in the government pay scale,” he said.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/banglad...ng-buy-600-new-buses-wasting-one-third-fleet/