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The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority on Sunday backtracked on its order to the police to file cases against drivers for charging more than the meter reading amid CNG-run-auto-rickshaw drivers’ protests in Dhaka city.

In the morning, drivers blocked roads at several points, including Rampura, Badda, Gabtoli, Shympur and Mirpur-1, protesting at the BRTA order, causing terrible suffering to the commuters particularly the office goers. 

Even after the government’s walking back its   order, the protesters continued their blockade for some more time in the early afternoon on Mirpur 60-Feet Road and on the main road in Dholaipar area.

Abdul Mannan, a private company employee, said that he had to take much costlier ride-sharing motorbike service to reach his office at Mirpur-6 from his Azimpur home as he did not get a bus due to the blockade.

‘The bike had to take a roundabout route to reach Mirpur-6 through Shahgbagh, Farmgate and Mirpur-10,’ he added.  

Earlier on February 10, the BRTA sent a letter to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, reminding them to file cases under the Road Transport Act 2018 against the CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers if they are found to charge more than the meter reading.

At about 10:15am on the day, the BRTA shared a letter, signed by its director for engineering Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas, with the media.

The letter read that the order issued on February 10 was cancelled.

Later on, Sitangshu Shekhar told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they had cancelled the order but the police could still file cases against the drivers for overcharging.

‘We issued the February 10 letter only to remind the police about the law,’ he said, adding, ‘The law is always there. So there is no obstacle to file cases against the violators.’

The DMP in a press release on the day also said that it would not impose any fines to the CNG-run-auto-rickshaw drivers for charging fares more than meter reading.

The Road Transport Act 2018 prohibits drivers from charging fares beyond the meter reading, stipulating for violators a maximum fine of Tk 50,000, or six months’ imprisonment, or both.

Addressing a press conference in the afternoon at the National Press Club, the Dhaka and Chattogram district CNG-run auto-rickshaw workers unity council demanded that the government must cancel all provisions under the 2018 Road Transport Act that they said undermine the workers’ interest.

Unity council member secretary Md Abdul Jabbar Mia placed a 13-point demand, including increasing the fares stipulated in the fare-chart in 2015 that is still effective.

The council demanded that Tk 75 fare should be fixed for first two kilometres, then Tk 27 for each kilometre and Tk 5 for per minute waiting charge against Tk 40, Tk 12 and Tk 2 respectively fixed in the existing fare-chart.

Unity council convener Md Ruhul Amin Munshi also alleged at the press conference that the police and officials of the city authorities extorted them. 

DMP deputy commissioner for Media and Public Relations said that he was unaware about the allegations.

‘If anyone takes money from them, they can file complaints and we will take actions,’ he said.

The unity council also declared a series of programmes starting from February 20 till Mid-April in Dhaka and Chattogram cities to press home their 13-point demand.

According to the BRTA, 13,000 CNG auto-rickshaws were initially permitted to ply in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan cities each.

An additional 2,696 CNG-run auto-rickshaws obtained permission to run in Dhaka following the government’s decision to replace the Mishuks, a type of three-wheeler with a four-stroke engine with a smaller and flimsy body.

Since 2015, the CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers have hardly been seen charging fares according to the meter reading.

Following the press conference, they brought out a protest procession from in front of the National Press Club that ended at Motijheel.