Emergency ambulance and Fire Service have long been complaining of harassment in the name of collecting toll at various bridges across the country.
Only a few days ago, Bangabandhu Bridge authorities came under fire for not allowing a fire service truck to pass through as they couldn’t pay the poll fee.
It led to the government to mull making fire service trucks and ambulances for emergency services toll-free.
Neither of these vehicles are yet considered ‘emergency’ by the bridge authorities and both fire service and ambulance owners association have written to the road transport and bridges ministry regarding the matter.
“Although ambulances services have been significantly upgraded in regards to carrying patients and bodies, there are no fixed guidelines regarding the matter,” said Dhaka Metropolitan Ambulance Owners Association Limited President Alamgir Hossain.
He added that they met with Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and concerned ministries, to no avail.
“Police often give cases regarding the number of seats in ambulances and route permits,” he said while talking about the various harassments they have to face.
He added that the organisation wrote to the home minister on Mar 22 for a solution and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner was directed to see to the matter.
“Countless of our ambulances provide services through 999 but they are forced to pay toll,” Alamgir said.
He observed that the current motor vehicle law is that of 1994 which needs to be revised. “Although gazette was supposed to be published it has not yet been done.”
Saying that everything needs to be fit for the modern time, he added that the ambulance services have now been commercialised but the law hasn’t been revised accordingly.
“The ambulance service guideline is held up due to the lack of coordination between the home, road transport and bridges, health and family welfare and social welfare ministries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director General of Fire Service Md Sazzad Hussain said that discussions were underway regarding the issue.
Bangabandhu Bridge and Muktarpur Bridges both fall under the jurisdiction Bangladesh Bridge Authority and only the president is allowed to pass through toll-free.
Saying that there is no chance to waive toll for other vehicles, Md Shamsuzzaman, one of the directors of the bridge authority added, “Bangabandhu Bridge was build with a lot of foreign loans.”
The rest of the bridges are under the Roads and Highways Department’s jurisdiction and the authorities claim that ambulances and fire service trucks travel through toll-free on those bridges.
Additional Chief Engineer of the division Md Ashraful Alam said that the vehicles of law enforcing agencies travel toll-free but some ambulances are not allowed to do so as they are registered as micro buses and then later converted to ambulances.