The government has taken an initiative to create 3 lakh heavy vehicle drivers to make the roads safer.
Thousands of lives are lost on the roads every year. The number of people paralyzed in the accidents is not less. Reckless driving, competition, overtaking, driver incompetence are the main reasons for this.
Therefore, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has taken a special initiative to keep the roads safe. They will create 60,000 skilled drivers a year.
According to BRTC sources, heavy vehicle drivers will be trained under the supervision of BRTC to make the roads safer. They will be brought under proper licensing.
Initially, the company aims to produce three lakh skilled heavy vehicle drivers in the next five years from 2021.
At least 60,000 drivers will receive training every year.
1.57 lakh people will be trained in the first phase while 1.43 lakh more people will get training in the next step.
Md Tazul Islam, BRTC Chairman (Additional Secretary), said that safe roads depend on skilled drivers.
“To that end, we will start the work of creating 60,000 skilled drivers every year. I have taken the initiative to create three lakh heavy vehicle drivers in phases. I think the more skilled drivers are created in the country, the safer the roads will be,” he mentioned.
According to Planning Commission sources, BRTC has invested Tk 977.63 crore to create three lakh skilled drivers.
The project proposal was sent to the Planning Commission for implementation from October 2019 to June 2025.
However, work on the project was halted due to various reasons including the Corona crisis.
The project will be presented again at the ECNEC meeting as the crisis has subsided.
The government is emphasizing on the new project titled 'Training for Heavy Vehicle Drivers'.
The main objective of the project is to achieve sustainable development goals by training skilled drivers and reducing the number of casualties in accidents.
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In addition, light or medium licensed drivers who have experience driving heavy vehicles will be given advanced training on heavy vehicle driving for a period of two weeks.
Light and medium licensed drivers who do not have experience driving heavy vehicles will receive four weeks of advanced training on heavy driving.
In addition to ensuring road safety, BRTC wants to create employment opportunities for highly skilled people at home and abroad.
Under the project, the daily food allowance was fixed at Tk 500 and food allowance at Tk 300 per trainee.
If the food and allowance is fixed at such a low price, the desired trainee will not be found. After the fear, the food allowance has been fixed at Tk 1,000 with food allowance at Tk 300 per trainee.
At the rate of Tk 250 per set, a total of Tk 7.89 crore has been taken for each set of T-shirts for the trainees.
Tk 65 crore has been earmarked for renting other resources (heavy vehicles) for 12 days and 24 days training in the project.
A daily rent of Tk 6,000 per vehicle has been set aside for each of the 94 centers, with a total of Tk 69 crore for a total of 200 vehicles.
However, the maintenance cost of the vehicle has to be borne by BRTC.
A total of Tk 36 crore has been proposed for the project as management cost (opening, closing and overhead costs).
A total of Tk 51.94 crore was proposed as fuel expenditure for training vehicles in the project. At present, 1.57 lakh trainees will have the opportunity to drive a training vehicle for five kilometers daily.
A total of 52.11 lakh liters of fuel will be required to run 0.2 kilometers per liter of oil. The total cost of fuel has been fixed at Tk 34.39 crore at Tk 66 per liter.