Around 8,000 battery-run easy bikes are plying Khulna city roads illegally under the auspices of a section of law enforcers. As a result, accidents and severe traffic congestion have become a common phenomenon as most of its drivers of these illegal vehicles are not trained in driving and do not have licence. According to source of Khulna City Corporation, only 2,000 licences were issued in 2010 and no new licences have so far been issued since then.
The assistant police commissioner in-charge of traffic division of KMP, Molla Azad Hossain, said about 8,000 battery-run easy bikes are plying the roads under five police stations of the city.
On the other hand, the president of Khulna Easy Bike Drivers’ Association Zahid Hossain Biplob said that the total number of battery-run easy bikes plying Khulna roads now stands over 10,000.
About 80 per cent of the battery-run vehicles do not have registration and the drivers have no training, he said.
The chief revenue officer of Khulna City Corporation Shahnewaz Talukder said thousands of battery-run easy bikes are in operation flouting ban imposed by the government in 2012.
He admitted that KCC issued licences to 2000 easy bikes in 2010.
He blamed traffic police for being indifferent to stop the increase in the number of unregistered easy bikes which are accident-prone.
When contacted, the assistant director of Khulna regional office of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Sheikh Selim Bakhsh told New Age that controlling easy bikes in city was not their duty.
‘We do not give registration to battery-run easy bikes. It is a matter of surprise how unregistered vehicles can ply roads under the nose of law enforcers. Besides, how these vehicles are being sold while there is a ban on their movement,’ said the BRTA officials.
It may be mentioned here that a good number of poor students of colleges and universities have taken to driving the easy bikes as part-time job to earn money. But they do not have driving licences.
Monir Hossain, a BBA student of Khulna University and son of the late Moksed Ali, said he earns Tk 200 to Tk 500 per day on average by driving an easy bike.
‘This helps me to continue my study,’ he said.
It is surprising to note here that Traffic division of KMP does not have any official record of how many people died in road crashes in last three years in the city because of these battery-run vehicles.
-With New Age input
