The jeep entered Shahbagh thana through the jam on the road from Dhaka university TSC to Shahbagh. It was an incident of November 30 at 2-26. The number of the vehicle was Dhaka Metro Th-11-5091. It runs with the officials of the thana. Constable Sarwar Alam left seat of driver stopping the start. One part of the front left portion of the vehicle has been deshaped. While opening the bonnet of thevehicle Sarwar said, as it is a vehicle of police its condition is not good. The duty extends up to 24 hours. The start stops while on the move. Did it stop today? He said in reply, almost every day start stops. Duty has to be done with this 18 years old vehicle. It was learnt that the fitness of the vehicle is not examined regularly. Because, it is said that vehicles of police do not require fitness. Sarwar said, when the start stops on the road, the vehicle has to be brought by wreckers. The condition of the four vehicles of the total five is bad. The incident of another day. It was 2-30pm on November 14. 5-6 police personnel of Uttara east thana went out on petrol duty at Azampur in Uttara of the capital. A pick up van was with them. The discoloured vehicle had no shape. Police were doing duty with this unfit vehicle. Looking inside it was found that the seat of the driver was patched up. The driver was trying to start the vehicle quickly to go on an operation. But it did not work. Later, they went for the operation by another vehicle. Movement of police in unfit vehicles everywhere in Dhaka city is a common occurrence. Neither the vehicles of the police stations nor those requisitioned are fit. At the time of going to launch an operation, the vehicles go out of order. On the way, the engine turns off by itself. Cutting joke, senior officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said rickshaws are speedier than police vehicles. Against the backdrop, the unfit vehicles of police are making uninterrupted movement in the capital. But the onus is on the police to siege unfit vehicles. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials, however, do not know as to whether police get examined the fitness of such vehicles or not. The situation of divisional headquarters is worse and that of interior areas are worst. Alike other areas, police make movement in unfit vehicles in hilly area of Khagrachari resulting in accidents. On November 8, 2014, Constable Abu Bakar was killed and his 25 colleagues were injured as police vehicle hit a tree at Alutila under the area. They were returning to district headquarters after discharging duties. Mizanur Rahman, OC of Khagrachari police station, said there is only one pickup in Sadar PS. The police forces have to discharge their duties covering a range of 50 kilometer distance. The police line is in possession of a dilapidated Bradford vehicle. As a result, they have to requisition public vehicle. After the above accident, the driver and helper were sued. The vehicle had met the accident due to failure of brake. The vehicle was hired from Comilla. The police department is in possession of 9, 416 vehicles for discharging duties. Of those, 2,814 vehicles are new to be used during police action against any movement and violence. Rest of the 6,602 vehicles should be used for launching drive and operation. Most of these vehicles are 20 years old or above while 3,300 are out of order. The police have 2,647 motorcycles, most of those having no number plates. Out of 2,000 pickup vans of police, 750 have lost fitness long ago. There are 560 jeeps, 92 petrol jeeps and 60 microbuses to be used by high officials while 33 buses and 19 minibuses for carrying police members. Besides, police department has 72 highway petrol cars, 92 prison vans, 22 ambulances and 350 trucks. Majority of these vehicles are dilapidated and faulty. Around 1,412 vehicles including 952 motorcycle, 260 pickup vans, 92 jeeps, 21 petrol jeeps, 26 microbuses, 16 buses, 8 riot cars, 5 ambulance and 22 prison vans belong to the DMP. As 50 percent of the total vehicles of over 400 police stations across the country are unfit, police have to hire private buses, pickup vans and other vehicles for launching operations. But majority of the hired vehicles are also unfit. It is learnt that every police station should have at least three government pickup vans. There is dearth of such vehicles in many police stations. The arrest of criminals and launching drives cannot be expedited for lack of fit vehicles. It is learnt that headlight of many vehicles went out of order while brakes of many other are faulty. Besides, bodies of many vehicles have been twisted. Transport experts opined that making movement by faulty vehicles has put the life of police force on risk. Unfit vehicles used by police are creating a safety concern for other vehicles and commuters. On October 30 this year, a car carrying police sticker took life of a commuter named Sanjay in Banani area. A drive started by Dhaka district administration and BRTA against unfit vehicles from November 10. But unfit vehicles used by police were out of touch. Speaking on the matter, BRTA executive magistrate Md Abul Bashar said police have also authority to take action against unfit vehicles. He refused to make further comment. Dr Shamsul Haque, a teacher of BUET and transport expert, said the police men are willingly or unwillingly making movement by unfit vehicles. They have to go for launching operation riding on a vehicle which is either unfit or driven by unlicensed driver. The situation is very alarming. Terming most of the DMP vehicles as dilapidated, a police high-up said engine turns off by itself during journey. If and when the vehicles run into trouble, these are taken to a safe place by wrecker. It is an embarrassing situation for police and driver both. In the interior area, police have to go for arresting offenders walking on their foot. Constable Julhas of Sabujbagh police station in the capital alleged that engine of the vehicle goes out of order at the time of night patrol. Then police forces have to march forward switching on torchlight. In case of water logging, the engine ran into trouble. “We had to get down from designated vehicle and board another vehicle on many occasions,” he added. OC Nur-e Alam Mia of Shyampur police station said “There are four vehicles in my police station. Only one of these is worthy of use. Rest vehicles are dilapidated. But condition of one is seriously critical. At the time of going for operation, start stops. If new vehicles are available, we will get rid of this miserable situation.” A few days ago, a police constable experienced an embarrassing situation while his pick-up van became inoperative at Jurain Rail Gate in the city. He brought the vehicle beside the road with the help of pedestrians. According to him, most of the vehicles of police are out of order. After repair it is impossible to go out in the roads with those vehicles. Knowing it well authorities concerned is not taking step. The conditions of most of the jeeps are bad. The per hour speed of those vehicles is 25 to 30 kilometres. He said that it is just impossible to drive the vehicles. While it rains it could not start. Conditions of most of the requisitioned vehicles are the same which have no fitness certificates. The vehicles which police use are in very dilapidated condition. They have no seat management, some have no looking glass and some have no colour. Most of the seats are full of bugs. Anwar Hossain, a member of the police force told this correspondent, “Insects bite us when we sit on seat.” While visiting a garage at Rajarbagh Police Line, it was found that about 600 vehicles are kept on for repairing. Of them, motor cycles, jeeps and other vehicles are piled up there. Member of the police forcers informed that those vehicles are repaired on regular basis. Among the five cars of Tejgaon thana in the city four are without fitness. Majharul Islam, OC of Tejgaon thana said, “We have four dilapidated vehicles. When we went for a drive with these cars then we observed that vehicles of the criminals are more modern than our cars.” Syed Shahid, OC of Gandaria thana told this correspondent, “There are only five cars in thana. Of them we are doing our duties using only three vehicles.” Rampura Thana OC Mahbubur Rahman said that most of the vehicles are in dilapidated condition. But we are doing our duties by using those cars. The vehicles carrying police overturn or lose control most of the time due to tyre puncture. On March 20, five policemen were injured when their vehicle overturned at Tetuljhara area of Savar in the morning when they were engaged in providing security to the motorcade of a visiting team of players in Bangladesh. The police vehicle faced the accident when they were going with the players to BKSP in Savar from a hotel in the capital. The police vehicle, that was ahead of the players’ vehicle overturned and lost control when one of the tyres burst with a big bang. On March 17, some three policemen were injured in a road accident at Biswanath in Sylhet. When a team of police led by SI Sayedur Raham, approached in the early morning Chansi Kapon area of Biswanath and hit a nearby wall losing its control. On August 13, 2013 four police members and three Ansar members were injured in a road accident in Chittagong city during hartal hours. Their vehicle faced the accident as a result of a tyre burst. Inspector General of Police Hasan Mahmud Khandakar said, “We are facing vehicle shortage. This is true that many vehicles remain inoperative due to technical fault. These vehicles are being run for the sake of public interest. Many of the vehicles run for 24 hours. There is a difference between the demand and availability. Considering all the facts, we are working for the public interest. We ply the vehicles following the rules and regulations.” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Chittagong Range Shafiqul Islam said, “There are very few vehicles for Thana than their volume of work. We are doing our duties with the approved vehicles and we have some old vehicles. Though it should not be used but we are using these old vehicles as we do not have choice.” Acting Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Rangpur Range Humayun Kabir said Thana in the town areas is equipped with few numbers of vehicles. Some of them are old but they have to use it as they have no option but to use it. Deputy Commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ekram ul Habib said “Vehicles for police are much less in number than demand. Due to lack of vehicles police faces problem during conducting drive. Old vehicles that remain unused in the Thanas of Dhaka are repaired to make it useful.” Chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Md. Nazrul Islam said, “I don’t know whether police carry test of the fitness of their vehicles regularly. If they do not do so, it should be tested. If police have no fund crisis, they are supposed to do fitness test of their vehicles.”
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