The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) has alleged that the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), despite repeatedly failing to curb fare anarchy and passenger harassment in CNG-powered autorickshaws, is planning once again to increase passenger fares and owners' daily deposits.
BJKS Secretary General Md. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury made this complaint in a press statement on Sunday (2 June).
The statement read, “Leaders of some autorickshaw owners' associations have conspired with BRTA to increase passenger fares and owners' daily deposits. They recently held a secret meeting at the BRTA head office to discuss fare hikes without including passenger representatives. Since this meeting, there has been talk of an imminent increase in passenger fares and owners' daily deposits for CNG autorickshaws operating in Dhaka and Chattogram cities."
“The government has set the daily deposit for autorickshaws at Tk900, yet some owners are currently collecting Tk 1600 per day by charging Tk800 in two shifts, while others are collecting Tk1800 per day. In such a scenario, if a daily deposit of Tk1150 is fixed, passengers will once again become victims of autorickshaw fare anarchy.”
The passengers' welfare platform demanded that such rent hikes be stopped immediately and urged the authorities to address the issue by negotiating with the owners to prevent further exploitation of passengers.
