The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways on Wednesday demanded drives against all types of illegal vehicles, including buses without route permits, and unlicensed drivers to prevent road accidents and save lives.
The organisation has called for the immediate start of mobile court drives on all highways, inter-district roads and regional roads across the country including the capital.
National Committee President Mohammad Shahid Mia and General Secretary Ashis Kumar Dey made this call in a statement to the authorities concerned including the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
The statement also urged the BRTA, police, highway police and district administration to play a strict role against illegal vehicles and lawbreakers, including unlicensed and minor drivers.
Expressing deep concern over the regular road accidents and casualties in different parts of the country, the statement said that though accidents and unexpected deaths often occur on the roads and highways, all quarters concerned are silent in establishing risk-free roads.
In the statement, the leaders of the national committee said that at various times in the near past, responsible officials of the government, including the road transport minister, have blamed faulty and illegal vehicles and unskilled and unlicensed drivers for the accidents.
But the government organisations concerned are not taking any effective action against these irregularities and mismanagement.
As a result, roads and highways have apparently become death traps, they added.
