Govt to go tough on vehicles with no RFID tags

The government has asked the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to ensure the installation of radio-frequency identification tags on retro-reflective number plates on all vehicles.

This tool, however, has not been in use for years and a recent survey conducted by the BRTA found that many of the radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are already out of order.

The government wants to ensure these tags with all vehicles following a Prime Minister’s Office order to introduce an integrated Electronic Toll Collection System for bridges and roads using RFID tags.

At a recent coordination meeting at the Road Transport and Highway Division, senior officials of BRTA have been directed to take a set of actions to ensure the tags.

BRTA chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder told the meeting that vehicle owners pay for the tags during registration and later they supply them with the digital number plates with the tags. But many owners do not go to the BRTA office to collect the plate.

Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri asked the BRTA chairman to publish a public notice to install the tags on newspapers and television. Besides, he asked to not renew the fitness certificate of vehicles with no RFID tags, said officials present at the meeting.

Besides, the meeting also discussed publishing a gazette notification over the issue. The ministry also decided to conduct mobile courts against vehicles without RFID tags across the country involving all deputy commissioners.

Following the meeting, the BRTA issued a public notice saying it would take legal action from February 1 if RFID tags are not attached to motor vehicles asking the vehicle owners to collect the number plates by January 31.

“The government has already decided to introduce an integrated management system for automatic toll collection and the RFIDs will be used to collect the toll,” it said.

The notice said that many owners are not installing the retro-reflective number plates and RFID tags after receiving the message from the respective circle office of BRTA while some number plates which have been installed are not functional.

It asked to install the tags urgently if the owners did collect the tags, or if the tags issued for them went out of order or were lost.

Md Nurul Islam, Deputy Director (Engineering-1) of the BRTA told The Business Post that they have been already conducting mobile courts. “This will be strengthened further,” he said.

What were the survey findings?

Following the PMO’s directives, the BRTA conducted a survey on the RFID tags on vehicles recently.

They found that many of the RFID tags on number plates have already gone out of order over time. The rate of vehicles with inactive RFID tags is around 50 per cent.

Of these vehicles, CNG-run auto-rickshaws have half of their RFIDs inactive while cars and microbuses have their tags in comparatively better condition.

The initiative to introduce digital number plates was taken in 2009 and vehicles were provided with the plates starting in 2012. The warranty period for RFID tags is five years.