View exchange on CNG fare fixing , passenger services : Fare hiked by Tk 5 at 5 stations, previous fares at other stations remain unchanged in Boalkhali
Biplob Das: Boalkhali (Chittagong)
A meeting was held in Boalkhali on the issue of CNG auto-rickshaw fares, passenger services and transport management at the initiative of the upazila administration. The meeting decided to increase the fares of five stations by Tk 5 each, but it was decided to keep the fares of other stations as before.
Upazila Executive Officer Mehedi Hasan Faruk presided over the meeting held at the Upazila Parishad Auditorium (Swadhinata) on Thursday.
Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate Kaniz Fatema, Police Station OC Mozaffar Ahmed, South District BNP Joint Convener Alhaj Azizul Haque Chairman, former Municipal BNP Convener Ishaq Chowdhury, BNP leader Shahidullah Chowdhury, Chittagong Journalists Union leader Mujahidul Islam, Boalkhali Upazila Branch President Adhir Barua and General Secretary Akram Hossain Dulal of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, Boalkhali Press Club President Sirajul Islam, SM Modachcher, Boalkhali CNG Auto Rickshaw Tempu Workers and Owners Coordination Council President Md. Idris, General Secretary Syed Habibur Rahman and labor leader Abdul Sattar and others were present at the meeting.
Apart from this, CNG autorickshaw drivers, owners and representatives of associations of various routes in upazilas and municipal areas including Kalurghat-Fultol, Shakpura, CO Office, Jotepukur, Kanungopara, Dasherdighi, Bengura participated in the meeting. About two hundred representatives, including journalists, political leaders, CNG drivers and ordinary passengers, were present in the meeting.
The meeting took various decisions to ensure the interests of passengers, fairness to drivers and owners, and discipline in the transport system. Among them, the decision to increase the fare at five designated stations by Tk 5 and to keep the fare at other stations as before was one of them.
Apart from this, the fare for picking up and dropping off passengers in CNG has been fixed at 5 taka. The fare from the UNO office to Fultal has also been fixed at 5 taka. During school, college and madrasa hours, half the fare will be charged from students wearing uniforms or holding valid identity cards.
It has been made mandatory to display the prescribed fare chart in a visible place in every CNG auto-rickshaw. It is requested to ensure that the fare chart is displayed on all vehicles by September 20. From September 21, action will be taken against vehicles plying without a fare chart as per the prevailing law.
The meeting instructed drivers not to charge more than the fixed fare and to behave with passengers in a decent, polite and responsible manner. It was also informed that if there are complaints of passenger harassment, charging more fare or disobeying the decisions taken in the meeting, necessary action will be taken as per the law.
The owner-worker association and the relevant representatives were called upon to take necessary initiatives to disseminate the fixed fares and decisions taken in the meeting among drivers and passengers.
The various parties present at the meeting agreed to ensure a passenger-friendly, orderly, and safe CNG transportation system in Boalkhali through mutual cooperation.
