After inauguration in last November, Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited so far affixed retro-reflective number plates only on 6.5 per cent vehicles all over the country while the factory is hoping to affix these plates on the remaining vehicles within next November.
About 2.5 lakh vehicles are yet to get new number plates with radiofrequency identification tags after they had paid fees for these plates.
On November 7, 2012, BMTF began replacing the number plates at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority’s office at Mirpur in Dhaka.
The Retro-Reflective Number Plate Project was inaugurated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in October the same year to facilitate better tracking of vehicles both at night and day.
At that time, the government had asked the project officials to complete the work within one year.
The assignment requires BMTF to replace 5,053 number plates each day to cover the existing 18.4 lakh motor vehicles across the country within the stipulated time of one year.
BRTA director (engineering) Mohammad Saiful Hoque told New Age last week that till July 2 this year the BMTF had affixed new number plates on about 1.2 lakh vehicles all over the country.
‘About 3.75 lakh vehicle owners have given fees to get the new number plates,’ he said.
BMTF managing director brigadier general Mohammad Saidur Rahman expressed the hope that they would affix new number plates on the existing 18.4 lakh motor vehicles within November this year.
A senior project official, seeking anonymity, admitted that so far they had affixed retro reflective number plates on more than one lakh vehicles.
‘So far we have delivered more than three lakh number plates to BRTA,’ he said.
He said that most of the motor vehicles were in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna while in Dhaka the affixation of new number plates was going slow due to space shortage at the road transport authority offices, where the number plates were replaced.
‘We are trying to get other place to switch our project’s work but we are yet to get any suitable place,’ he said.
The official also said that many vehicle owners did not come to the BRTA office on fixed date to get their new number plates.
The project office is supposed to notify vehicle owners through short message service in a month after receiving the fees asking them to bring their vehicles at designated place on a date for affixing the new number plates on their vehicles.
Meanwhile, many vehicle owners have a common complaint that they did not get messages even after three months.
Earlier, the government made it mandatory to use RR number plates and RFID tags.
Retro-reflectivity materials have the ability to send most of light back to its source.
Radio-frequency identification is the use of a wireless non-contact system that uses radio-frequency electronic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object for the purpose of automatic identification and tracking.
-With New Age input
