Owners must pay up to Tk 1,500 per vehicle annually

Vehicle owners will have to donate a yearly amount between Tk 300 and Tk 1,500 to a government fund aimed to compensate road accident victims.

Owners of bus, truck, covered-van and prime-mover will have to deposit Tk 1,500 every year to form the fund. Minibus, mini truck, and pickup van owners will have to pay Tk 750, car, jeep, and microbus owners will need to pay Tk 500, three-wheeler and other vehicle owners will have to pay Tk 300 yearly.

However, motorcycle owners will require to pay Tk 1,000 once during the registration of their vehicle.

A board of trustees will regulate and maintain the fund and compensation process, according to the Road Transport Rules 2022 which was published by the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) on December 27, 2022.

The board will deposit the money with a bank under the name of ‘Financial Assistance Fund’ that will be used to compensate the victims of road accidents and their family members. The board will have the authority to increase or decrease the amount to be extracted from the vehicle owners.

From the fund, the family member of each dead victim will get minimum Tk 5 lakhs. If any victim becomes disabled, he will get a minimum Tk 3 lakh. If the victim sustains serious injuries and has no possibility of returning to normal life will get Tk 3 lakh. A seriously injured victim who would be able to return to normal life will get Tk one lakh.

The board will have the authority to act flexibly on fixing the amount a victim is entitled to, says the rules.

To get this compensation, family members or the victim will have to file an application within 30 days of the accident. The board will then form an inquiry committee within 10 days and it will submit its recommendations to the board in 30 working days. According to the rules, a victim will get the compensation money within 30 working days of the filing of the application. The money will be deposited into the victim’s bank account.

How will the money be collected from vehicle owners?

A vehicle owner while getting his vehicle registered with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will deposit the donation with other applicable fees. While updating tax token and other documents, the vehicle owners will need to pay the yearly donation amount.

The owners will get a receipt of the payment and that receipt will have an expiry date. If any owner fails to deposit the money next year before the expiry date, they will need to pay a fine of Tk 50 for every month.

The BRTA, after extracting the money will deposit it to the trustee board’s bank account within seven working days.