The Road Safety Foundation (RSF), a rights body, on Monday demanded the government take strict action to stop anarchy in the transportation sector in general and road and riverways in particular with fares and extortion during the upcoming Eid journey.
“This year, 80-90 lakh people will travel from the capital Dhaka to their homes across the country to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, which is more than ever before. We do not have the vehicles to transport such a large number of passengers in just 5 days. As a result, there is a risk of increasing vehicle crisis and anarchy this time,” the RSF said in a joint statement.
In the joint statement, the RSF’s Chairman Prof Dr A I Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Vice Chairman M. S Siddiqui, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, Abdul Hamid Sharif, Profr Hasina Begum and Executive Director Saidur Rahman also said that rent anarchy will be created due to extortion on the roads and waterways, which will make the Eid journey unbearable. The extortion syndicate has already become active on the roads and waterways centering the Eid journeys.
Past experience shows that political extortion of several thousand crores of taka takes place during the Eid season alone. Unfortunately, many police personnel are involved in these extortions, the joint statement said.