Owners and workers angry over Passenger Welfare Association's accounts

The Bangladesh Road Transport Owners-Workers Coordination Council has claimed that the allegation of charging around Tk148 crore extra fare on buses ahead of Eid is 'baseless' and 'misleading'.

At a press conference in Paribagh in the capital on Friday, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Secretary General Saiful Alam said that the information given by Passenger Welfare Association Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury is untrue, purposeful and fictional.

He said, 'Such statements are misleading the countrymen. We strongly condemn and protest against it.' At the same time, he called for presenting evidence in support of this claim within 48 hours. Otherwise, legal action will be taken.

Earlier, the Passenger Welfare Association claimed that 87 percent of the 4 million long-distance bus passengers have to pay an average of Tk350 extra fare during Eid, which is about Tk121 crore. Besides, about Tk26 crore is being collected additionally by charging an average of Tk50 from 6 million passengers in urban transport. In total, this number is about Tk148 crore.

In this regard, transport owners claim that additional money may be taken from passengers from some illegal counters outside the terminal, but these are not part of legal transport.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association said that 150 out of 200 counters were found illegal in a drive conducted in the Bypail area. Action has been taken against these counters and the drive will continue in the future.

They also said that some unscrupulous people are defrauding by using the name of established transport. Immediate action will be taken against them.

Among others, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Secretary General Saiful Alam and Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association President GR Shahid spoke at the press conference.