Fifty-five-year-old Rahim Ullah has been undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) for the last 15 days after being hit by a motorcycle while crossing a road in Dhaka.
A vegetable vendor by profession, Rahim Ullah finds it difficult to afford his treatment costs and feed his family as he has not been working since his accident.
During a visit to the hospital, Rahim’s son Saiful Islam Rizvi, shared with this correspondent the hardship they were facing due to his father's inability to work.
When asked whether they knew about the fund offered by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) for road accident victims, Saiful said he didn’t have any idea about such a fund.
Like Rahim Ullah, thousands of families of deceased and injured road accident victims struggle with financial hardship each year, often unaware of the BRTA compensation fund.
In the past, victims' families had to file cases in court for compensation. However, the Road Transport Act 2018 paved the way to create a fund for compensating and treating road crash victims. Last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina distributed compensation from the fund to 162 family members of road accident victims for the first time.
To be eligible for compensation from the fund, which is created with one-time or annual "contributions" from vehicle owners, a victim must apply within a month following the accident. A 12-member trustee board deals with the compensation claims.
Despite the number of injured persons in road accidents being much higher than those killed, the number of applications seeking compensation for the injured remains very low, according to officials from the road transport regulatory authority.
BRTA data shows that Bangladesh saw a staggering 5,495 road accidents in 2023, resulting in 5,024 deaths and 7,495 injuries.
BRTA officials said they have received a total of 1,430 applications for compensation as of May 14, 2024. Of these, 1,130 applications were sent to the field-level administration for inquiry, and 340 applications were deemed eligible for compensation after scrutiny.
As of May 14, a total of 283 families received compensation worth Tk13.31 crore from the BRTA fund, with 248 beneficiaries from deceased families and 35 from injured families.
BRTA officials added that they currently have a fund of around Tk176.53 crore for compensation, with 98 cheques ready for disbursement – 70 for deceased families and 18 for injured families.
When asked, BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder said the number of applications from injured individuals is low because many people do not sustain serious injuries and return home after receiving first aid.
"If someone wants to apply for compensation, they must provide documents related to medical treatment, which sometimes prevents them from applying," said Nur Mohammad Mazumder.
However, when informed that many road accident victims receiving treatment at NITOR were unaware of the compensation fund, the BRTA chairman said there is no shortage of awareness about the fund among the people, though some may not know about it.
Nur Mohammad said BRTA will take initiatives to create awareness among injured individuals admitted at NITOR by distributing posters and handbills.
When asked about the one-month timeframe for applications, Nur Mohammad Mazumder said it was set to ensure that poor people could receive compensation swiftly.
