BRTA revamp in offing?

The BRTA lost a staggering Tk 250 crore in licence fees and other transport taxes in the last fiscal through corruption and mismanagement. A special police complement by itself cannot rein in corrupt practices within BRTA and outside in the transport sector to the desired extent. The simultaneous addition of eight mobile teams to be led by magistrates to enforce traffic rules and catch the violators, welcome though it is, remains a transient option.

Overall, the government needs to be cautious about one particular thing: every new dose of stringency and addition of outfit to the existing structure risk opening new avenues for corruption, rent-seeking and extortion which must be fought off.

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Let's hope that no time will be wasted in equipping BRTA with the special police squads and putting the proposed eight more mobile teams in place. We have to face the fact though, that those who have been involved in corruption in the transport sector cannot be expected to change overnight into saintly persons. The police habit of collecting 'toll' from old vehicles may die hard. This is not to forget also that some postal department employees have been adept in depriving the government of revenue collection from the transport operators. So, there is a huge gap in coordination that needs to be bridged.

We know that it is possible to improve the situation, but not certainly by recourse to ad-hoc measures which has been the case hitherto. Unless a thoroughly professional, well-coordinated and institutionalised approach is adopted, chances are that corruption and irregularities will continue and the national exchequer will be deprived of its rightful earnings.