The spread of drug addiction among the transport workers at an alarming rate is one of the major reasons behind road accidents, police and transport leaders have pointed out.
A joint meeting, organised by traffic department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Dhaka Road Transport Owners-Workers Unity Council, on Tuesday also put an emphasis on identifying the sex offenders, who were harassing women on moving transports.
The meeting was held at Kazi Bashir Uddin Auditorium in the capital to raise awareness among transport owners and workers for preventing road accidents.
‘We came to know about the alarming spread of drug and that a big portion of transport workers is drug addicts,’ said DMP additional commissioner for traffic Mir Rezaul Alam.
He said a driver took responsibility for lives of all passengers, so he had to value the faith of his passengers.
‘You have to come out of the death trap of drug,’ he said, adding that the addiction could also destroy their families.
Rezaul urged the transport workers to identify sex offenders among them and hand them over to the owners or police and stop ‘sick competition’ with each another.
All, including owners, workers, pedestrians, and passengers have a responsibility to reduce road accidents, he added.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners’ Association general secretary Khandakar Enayet Ullah said they were also very much concerned about the drug addiction among transport workers.
‘Rohingyas did not come empty-handed, they came with yaba which spread across the country,’ he said, adding that ‘our drivers take yaba after earning.’
He requested police authorities to purchase drug detectors for preventing addiction and save the nation.
Enayet alleged that till now there were no city stops or terminal for about 5,000 Dhaka city service buses.
The owners were coming forward to hand over sex offenders to police, he added.
DMP joint commissioner for traffic north, Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, said the traffic situation would become very serious in the upcoming month of Ramadan following different development works and monsoon.
The meeting was attended, among others, by DMP joint commissioner for traffic south Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation vice-president Sadiqur Rahman
Hiru and Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Union general secretary
Karam Ali.
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