Quader: Easy bike, 3-wheelers to come under purview of registration

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday said the government will bring easy-bike and other three-wheelers and auto-rickshaws under the purview of registration in an effort to ensure road safety and curb road accidents throughout the country.

The minister said this while addressing as chair the 28th meeting of the National Road Safety Council at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) head office joining through a videoconference from his official residence.

Quader, also the general secretary of the ruling Awami League, said: “To this end, a sub-committee has been formed to figure out a strategy after reviewing the recommendations submitted earlier by a Road Transport Division committee.”

About road safety, he said: “Opinions of the stakeholders concerned have been taken to make the legal frame time-befitting and more rational so that the government can strengthen the legal base in the shortest possible time following the due procedures. The government has even introduced a ‘road safety audit’ for the first time on highways in the country.”

People’s long-time sufferings for getting driving licences is also going to be dissolved as the works of “standard driving licences” distribution will begin from the last week of this month, the minister told the meeting.

In light of the new action plan, at the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Sheikh Hasina, a strategic plan with a time-frame of 2021-2024 has been taken for road safety after the expiration of the National Road Safety Strategic Plan which was effective from 2017 to 2020.

The road transport minister said a sub-committee has been formed to finalize the recommendations of the strategic action plan and this sub-committee has been asked to present the draft at the next road safety council meeting within a month.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam, Shahjahan Khan, MP, noted columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai Illias Kanchan, among others, virtually joined the meeting.