Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has taken the initiative to create trainers to train battery-powered auto-rickshaw drivers. The organisation is preparing 300 trainers (master trainers) in the first phase.
They will later train drivers of auto-rickshaws (e-rickshaws) made by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
DNCC is spending Tk 54 lakh 80 thousand to create e-trainers. And the organization will spend Tk 60 million to purchase laptops and projectors for training auto-rickshaw drivers.The City Corporation will soon invite tenders.
However, stakeholders said that even after spending so much money, the question remains whether it will be possible to bring auto-rickshaw drivers to justice on the roads.
They said that it will be difficult to implement this initiative of the City Corporation without stopping the production of illegal auto-rickshaws and keeping the existing auto-rickshaws on the road normal. In this situation, the city corporation or the government should first stop the illegal production of autorickshaws.
Before August 5 last year, the DNCC and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) conducted mobile courts many times to ban illegal battery-powered auto-rickshaws from Dhaka's roads.
But they repeatedly failed and suspended their activities. Later, in April, DNCC took the initiative to stop illegal auto-rickshaws in the DNCC area.
At that time, auto-rickshaw drivers protested by blocking roads in various areas of Dhaka, including Gulshan and Banani.
Later, the Local Government Department and DNCC-DSCC took the initiative to restore discipline to battery-powered rickshaws. As part of this, a team from BUET's Mechanical Engineering Department is developing e-rickshaws with hydraulic brakes, passenger safety, and energy efficiency.
These rickshaws are scheduled to be trialled on the roads of Paltan, Dhanmondi and Uttara this month. The potential price of each rickshaw is around Tk 145,000.
Sources in the transport department of DSCC and DNCC said that the battery-powered rickshaws currently plying on the roads will be phased out gradually. Drivers will be given one year to build BUET's new model rickshaws. For this, Bangladesh Bank and the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) will provide them with loans.
And the government will arrange training for drivers before the new rickshaws are put on the road. DNCC is preparing 300 trainers before this training. Of these, 100 are police members and 200 are from the list of the Department of Youth Development. Among the list of youth development, 175 are students involved in the anti-discrimination movement.
The remaining 25 are trainers for various programs of the Department of Youth Development.
Local Government Advisor Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan inaugurated the training programme at the DNCC's Nagar Bhaban on June 28. 200 trainees participated in the first phase of the three-day training. The training of the remaining 100 people was also completed. BRAC Road Safety Programme was appointed as a consulting firm for their training.
A senior official of the DNCC's accounting department seeking anonymity said, Tk 54 lakh 80 thousand has been allocated for the training of master trainers. This money is being spent on 300 trainers. Each trainer was given a daily allowance of 1,000 taka for the training of 200 people. This also includes the cost of food and snacks during the training. The trainers received 2,500 taka for the three days, excluding government taxes. In addition, all master trainers will be given a laptop and projector before they go to the field after the training. About Tk 6 crores have been allocated for this sector. Each laptop and projector will cost 100,000 to 200,000 taka.
