Syndicate looting earnings of city bus workers

Bus workers in the capital are left with little earnings at the end of every day as they are forced to pay a big amount as extortion to a syndicate.

Even, bus drivers, conductors and helpers sometimes have to return home without any penny after paying extortion, different charges, bus rent and fuel cost, they claim.

“Every day, we have to run trips until 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm to arrange money for extortion in the name of road or line cost, bus rent, fuel cost and charge of e-ticketing device,” said Tushar Mia, conductor of a Turag Paribahan bus, which plies between Jatrabari in the capital and Gazipura of Gazipur.

He said they have to earn their income by running trips after 8:00 pm that continue until 10:00 pm -11:00 pm. “However, it’s not possible to make more than one trip after 8:00pm.”

Explaining the issue, Tushar said they have to pay Tk 1,200 extortion to lineman employed by the bus owners’ association, Tk 200 as charge for e-ticketing device, Tk 3,500 to the bus owner as rent and Tk 3,000-3,500 as fuel cost.

Besides, sometimes they have to pay fine slapped by traffic sergeants to the tune of Tk 500-600 for various reasons, including picking and dropping passengers from and at unmarked points and carrying passengers beyond the capacity of the bus, he said.

“After paying everything, we (a driver, a conductor and a helper) can earn Tk 500-700 each per day. Sometimes, we return home without a single penny after meeting everything as we can’t run sufficient trips for different reasons, including demonstration and traffic jam,” said the Turag Paribahan worker.

Mohammad Rasel, a conductor of Dewan Paribahan, which plies from Azimpur to Kuril Biswa Road, said that they have to pay Tk 6,500 every day -- bus rent,     road or line cost, charge for e-ticketing device and fuel cost.

“Our income starts only after arranging this amount,” he said, adding that they can run four single trips and earn Tk 8,000-8,500 per day.

After paying everything, they can earn Tk 500-700 each daily, Rasel said.

He said, “Sometimes, sergeants fine us for picking and dropping passengers from and at unmarked spots and taking excessive passengers. In March, traffic sergeants fined us Tk 1,800 on three occasions. We paid the money, but they didn’t give us tokens.”

This correspondent talked to a number of staff of Anabil Paribahan, Turag Paribahan, Victor Classic Paribahan and Akash Paribahan when they echoed Tushar and Rasel.

About the money collected in the name of road cost or line cost, they said they do not get any benefit of the money.

They said they do not know what is done with the money collected from each bus.

About the e-ticketing machine charge, the bus workers said the e-ticketing system was launched several months back. “We have to pay Tk 200-250 to the owner association as the daily charge against each machine,” said one of the bus staffers.

Insur Ali, general secretary of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik League, a labour wing of Awami League, said that a syndicate comprised of bus owners is illegally taking money in the name of line or road cost.

With their regular charge, they have now added the charge for e-ticket devices, which is nothing but a tool to collect more extortion, he said.

Insur said Tk several crore is extorted from the transport sector across the country every day while more than Tk one crore is collected from buses plying the capital streets and bound for different other cities and districts.

There are 80,000 registered buses and minibuses in the country, he said, adding that more than 39,000 buses and minibuses ply the city roads and long-distance routes.

Insur urged the government to stop the illegal extortion from the bus staffers.

Contacted, Khandaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, said that he has just returned from Saudi and could not say anything in this regard.

Samdani Khandaker, office secretary of the association, said that they collect money to run the association. “Money is required to run any association. We also need so,” he said.

Asked about taking the fine money sans tokens by sergeants, spokesperson for Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Faruk Hossain requested this correspondent to contact the traffic division.

However, Mohammad Munibur Rahman, additional commissioner (traffic) of the DMP, could not be reached over phone despite several attempts for his comments.