Dhaka: Road Transport and Bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority drive will continue to force the transport workers to stop charging extra fares from passengers.

‘Though it may cause temporary sufferings to commuters, our drives will continue to stop charging extra fares from passengers,’ he said.

The minister came up with the remark while taking to reporters after a meeting with the officials of BRTA at its Motijheel office.

During the drive, Quader said, immediate action will be taken against those transport workers who take extra fares from passengers ignoring the fare chart fixed by the government. ‘Transport workers may create trouble for passengers if action is taken against them. But it won’t deter us to continue the drives.’

‘Through the drives, we’ll force the transport workers to realise the government declared fares from the passengers.’

The government has raised the fares for buses and minibuses by Tk 0.10 per kilometre in Dhaka, Chittagong, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Manikganj and Narsinghdi with effect from 1 October. The minimum fare for buses has been fixed at Tk 7 while at Tk 5 for minibuses.

However, passengers alleged that the operators are not following the rates fixed by the government.

In the wake of media reports that operators were flouting the government announced fare chart, the BRTA has been conducting mobile court drives at different parts of the city against the buses and minibuses charging extra fares.

Meanwhile, commuters suffered a lot in the capital for seven hours due to crisis of public transports on Sunday as bus and minibus workers of various routes went on a wildcat strike protesting the punishment given by a BRTA mobile court to a bus driver at Mirpur.

Quader said almost 60 percent bus and minibus operators have been complying with the fares fixed by the government while only 40 percent charging extra fares.  

‘We won’t allow any bus and minibus to take extra fares. We’ll identify which operators are still charging extra fares and will take action against them,’ he said.

The minister also asked the authorities concerned to ensure that extra fares are not taken from the BRTC passengers in any way.