The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS) has called for effective measures to stop extortion in the transport sector, expressing deep concern over recent remarks by new Road Transport and Bridges Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam.
In a statement sent to the media on Friday, the organisation’s Secretary General Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury alleged that the new minister’s stance appears to follow in the footsteps of the fallen autocratic regime by legitimising extortion to curry favour with “transport mafias.”
Chowdhury noted that during the previous administration, extortion in the transport sector reached an “industrial scale.” He claimed that several transport owners and labour leaders amassed vast wealth overnight, with some becoming owners of hundreds of buses.
He further stated that the involvement of certain corrupt police officers in this extortion and anarchy meant ordinary citizens did not dare to protest.
The BJKS secretary general expressed the public’s disappointment that a minister from the popular BNP government – which emerged following the blood-soaked sacrifices of students and the masses – would make such comments.
He emphasised that transport extortion directly increases bus fares for low-income individuals and drives up commodity prices, which in turn causes embarrassment for the government.
The statement concluded by asserting that the BJKS considers the BNP a party of the masses and does not believe it offers patronage to “transport mafias.”
