Jumbangla Desk: Money has been deposited. The exam is over. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has only one job left, to print the driving license smart card and give it to the customer. This government organization is not able to do this simple work. As a result, more than 160,000 people are suffering. Some wait three years. Details from Prothom Alo's report-

This suffering of people was created during the tenure of Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader of the previous Awami League government. Allegedly, complications arose as a result of trying to award the work to a preferred contractor. People are suffering since then.

The Awami League government collapsed on August 5 in a student uprising. The new interim government took over on August 8. The new government has decided to do away with the smart card system for driving licences. It will be replaced by standard plastic Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) cards.

According to BRTA sources, PVC cards will be given to new applicants. Old applicants have to give the previous card. In that case, there is no guarantee when they will get the card.

Senior Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Department. Ehsanul Haque said that the old contractor brought the card. Gradually the complications will disappear. He said, the main goal of PVC card Chalu is to print quickly. It will reduce the suffering of people. However, this card will also have a QR code, which can be used to verify the validity of the license on the way.

The organization needs to be streamlined. If the new government does not take action on the service institutions, then the popular uprising will be regarded as a mere political change.

BRTA issues a paper license to the customer who fails to issue the smart card on time. If that is shown, the traffic police refrains from taking legal action. Of course, those who want to go abroad as workers with a license are the ones who suffer the most. Because they cannot go abroad without a smart card.

Abdul Mateen of Comilla is sitting with a visa of Saudi Arabia. He said his license needed to be amended. For this, he applied for 13 thousand rupees through the broker. He said, the card is waiting for printing. Two months passed like this. After getting the license, submit the passport to the embassy.

Sources say that now few cards are brought and given to influential bureaucrats and foreign travelers. For this purpose, those going abroad have to show their visas and register at the BRTA Chairman's office. However, many people do not know this information. There are allegations that those who know have to pay huge sums of money. Apart from this, a 'syndicate' has been formed consisting of local workers of Madras Printers and some officials of BRTA. They are taking advantage of the crisis and printing some licenses with extra money.

Fuzael Ahmed, the owner of a visa processing service provider in Dhaka's Paltan, said that many people who take services from his company are waiting for the license. Some have procured licenses through brokers by spending 50,000 rupees.

According to BRTA sources, PVC cards will be given to new applicants. Old applicants have to give the previous card. In that case, there is no guarantee when they will get the card.

BRTA issues driver's license in Bhoganti country for five years . The agency maintains a database of all licensed drivers. But since 2019, the organization has not been able to do the work of licensing and storing the database properly.

According to BRTA sources, the crisis started mainly around the awarding of card printing work to a preferred contractor. The contractor is Madras Security Printers of India. The then top officials of the Ministry of Roads and BRTA were active in giving work to this institution.

Nazrul Islam was the Secretary of Road Transport Department at the time of giving the job to Madras Printers. When contacted to discuss the matter, two of his mobile numbers were found to be switched off. Noor Mohammad Majumdar was the chairman of BRTA from 2020 till last June. Despite repeated attempts, he could not be found.

Road transport advisor Muhammad Fawzul Kabir Khan told reporters at the secretariat on August 18 that he is also a victim in terms of licenses. He had to take seven vacations to get his driver's license.

Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said that this inability to issue a simple card is a symptom of the disease. The disease is giving work to incompetent institutions through collusion. In this case, those responsible should be held accountable. That accountability was not there during the authoritarian government.

Mentioning that BRTA is a major cause of mismanagement in the road sector in Bangladesh, Iftekharuzzaman said that the organization should be reformed. If the new government does not take action on the service institutions, then the popular uprising will be regarded as a mere political change.