/ RHD issues directives again, but will they be enforced?

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has issued a six-point directive, including removing illegal vehicles and structures from or along the highways to reduce road crashes and congestion.
The department yesterday gave the directives to all of its field and project offices following a recent letter from the Public Administration Ministry.
The ministry sent the letter after its senior secretary Mokhles ur Rahman made some observations about road problems and gave suggestions after visiting several districts.
However, many of these directives were given on several earlier occasions, but those were not implemented properly, leaving the roads unsafe and prone to congestion.
“I have received those directives, and thus I have forwarded those to all my field offices. We will try to implement those with the help of other government agencies,” RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan told The Daily Star yesterday.
Replying to a question about the non-implementation of some of these directives earlier, he said, “There are some things that you can’t fix quickly. But we are trying.”
On October 24, Public Administration Ministry wrote a letter to the Road Transport and Highways Division and the Public Security Division.
In the letter, the ministry said operations of non-motorised and slow-moving vehicles on national highways and other highways were seen obstructing long-route vehicles and increasing the risk of road crashes.
Unplanned markets (Hat, Bazar) and illegal commercial establishments along the highways were seen causing congestion, resulting in wastage of fuel, delays in reaching destinations, and obstructing emergency services.
Lack of proper road maintenance is causing traffic congestion, it wrote, adding that lack of enough traffic signs and post markings was causing an increasing number of road crashes.
The senior secretary gave six suggestions. Those are — deployment of at least six police or ansar members round the clock for uninterrupted and safer vehicular movement; carrying out regular mobile court drives to evict unplanned and illegal commercial establishments; shifting markets from along the highways; taking legal action against non-motorised and slow-moving vehicles on highways; ensuring that the vehicles operating at night have necessary indicator lights and removing illegal lights from vehicles; and ensuring enough traffic signs, post markings, lights, and boundary fences.
Upon receiving the letter, RHD yesterday gave the directives, said RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan.
SIMILAR DIRECTIVES BEFORE, BUT NO IMPLEMENTATION
National Road Safety Council and Road Transport Advisory Council in the last decade took decisions to remove small, illegal, and locally made slow-moving vehicles.
The ministry in August 2015 even banned the operation of three-wheelers on 22 major highways, but the ban was not implemented properly, allegedly due to political influence and corruption of a section of law enforcers.
Meanwhile, Obaidul Quader, road transport and bridges minister of the previous Awami League government, on many occasions directed to remove illegal and unplanned roadside structures, including markets, but to no avail.
In some cases, illegal structures were removed, but they were re-established after a few days.
Similar directives were also given to ensure enough traffic signs, posts, markings, lights, and boundary fences on many occasions, but those were not implanted properly.
Ensuring that vehicles operating at night have necessary indicator lights and removing illegal lights from vehicles is not under RHD’s jurisdiction.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and police are mainly responsible for it, a RHD official said.
Deploying police on the road is under the jurisdiction of the home ministry and police, he said, wishing not to be named.