Examples of the RFID tags, top, and new number plates. Zillur Rahman lost his car minutes after he parked it at the TSC on Dhaka University campus on June 8 evening. He rushed to Shahbagh Police Station nearby, and a wireless message was dispatched about the theft. He also talked to a few top police officials until midnight asking for help to find the car. Zillur, a consultant at the World Bank, t
ried to contact the BRTA (Bangladesh Road Transport Authority) Elenbari office in Tejgaon, which is equipped to track vehicles, but failed as the office was closed by then. The next morning, he went to the office again. But BRTA officials were of no help; they suggested that he ask the police for help. Zillur returned home utterly dejected. A year ago, he had to pay Tk 3,652 to get special number plates and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags installed on his car so that it could be traced. But it all came to nought. The government has been forcing people to buy recto-reflecting number plates and RFID tags for their vehicles under a Tk 600 crore scheme that does the vehicle owners no good. Owners of cars, buses, minibuses, microbuses, sport utility vehicles, trucks and other large vehicles are charged Tk 3,652 each while those of motorbikes and three-wheelers like auto-rickshaws have to pay Tk 1,805 for the tags and the new number plates. More than four lakh vehicles had these installed and the government took nearly Tk 130 crore from vehicle owners since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the project on October 31, 2012. Advertisement “It was a total waste of my money,” said Zillur. Launched rather whimsically and portrayed as “yet another step towards Digital Bangladesh”, the project did not help the authorities check vehicle theft or use of vehicles in criminal activities. Before and during the launch, it was widely hyped that the new number plates would stop people from changing plates. It was also said the number plates would be clearly visible from 40 feet away, be it day or night, helping identification of a vehicle. Even some ministers and officials wrongly described the number plates as “digital”. It was also said that crimes using vehicles would be checked. But vehicles, especially cars and microbuses, are being used at will for snatching, kidnapping and extortion in the capital and elsewhere. For transport owners, the new number plates carry no meaning at all, but they were very hopeful that the RFID tags would be able to track vehicular movement and help recover stolen vehicles. But it turned out the tags could easily be peeled off. BRTA officials said a move to introduce new number plates was first made in 2004. A fresh move incorporating the option of RFID tags was made when Syed Abul Hossain was communications minister in 2009. Some officials and experts had then suggested introducing GPS, which has a proven mechanism to track vehicles constantly all over the country. But the ministry opted for the less effective, time-consuming and costly RFID system, saying GPS would be pricier. Without even floating a tender, the government gave Bangladesh Army the job to import plates and the tags. The army went for a deal with an American company that supplies the number plates and the tags manufactured in Poland. It set up a small workshop at Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory in Gazipur where the number plates and RFID tags are prepared. People visiting BRTA offices across the country for fitness certificates or tax tokens are forced to pay for the new number plates and RFID tags. The number of registered vehicles in the country is about 21.22 lakh, whereas there are only 12 tag reading devices in the capital and there's none elsewhere. These devices can collect information when the vehicles are within 11 metres. The information is then transmitted to a central monitoring system at the BRTA Elenbari office. The 12 tag readers hardly play any role in tracking and recovering lost or stolen vehicles or vehicles used in crimes. The devices are useless during power cuts and the monitoring is only done during office hours. The victims usually seek help from the police, who then contact the designated BRTA official to know about the movement of a vehicle, but the police get no help. Assistant Commissioner Md Raihanul Islam who works with the Anti-Vehicle Theft Team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said they were not getting any help of the BRTA scheme in investigation relating to vehicles. “It would be very helpful if the scheme had global positioning system [GPS].” BRTA Deputy Director Sitangsu Shekhor Biswas, who works with the scheme, however, is hopeful. “We will be able to track most vehicles once the entire capital and major parts of the country are brought under the scheme.” He added that RFID tags now help limited tracking and assess traffic volume at 12 points. The tags will also be used to collect toll later on. Transport planner and expert Prof Shamsul Hoque saw some prospect of the system working if major cities, major roads and highways were covered in future. He, however, said there were cheaper options available and being used worldwide for successful tracking of vehicles, goods and assets. Meanwhile, the BRTA is taking Tk 555 from vehicle owners for issuing digital blue books for their vehicles, saying it would prevent duplication of the blue books and help people pay for tax and fitness from across the country. So far, more than 10 lakh owners were forced to pay the money but only a few hundred got the new blue book due to complexities in data enrolment, BRTA officials said. Data of many owners were registered wrongly, forcing them to pay again. Worst of all, many owners were charged twice due to faulty data entry system. In fact, most people who paid for the new book are least bothered about it, as it requires them to visit the BRTA offices for photographs and fingerprints.
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