The bus that fell into the ditch was not allowed to ply and had met with an accident before

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The Imad Paribahan bus lost control and fell into a ditch at Shivchar in Madaripur and was not allowed to ply. The fitness certificate of the bus has also expired. Four years ago, the bus met with an accident in Gopalganj. Four persons including a Superintendent of Police (SI) died in that accident. Since then, the bus’s plying permit has been suspended. This information is known from Bangladesh Road

Transport Authority (BRTA) sources.

At around 7:30 this morning, the passenger bus of Imad Paribahan lost control and fell into the ditch in Qutubpur area of Padma Setu Expressway at Shibchar in Madaripur. 19 deaths have been reported so far. At least 25 people were injured. They are under treatment in different hospitals.

According to BRTA sources, this same bus met with an accident on the night of September 21, 2019. Four people died when they hit the back of a stationary truck on the Dhaka-Khulna highway at Sonashur in Gopalganj Sadar upazila. 15 others were injured.

According to BRTA, the bus was manufactured in 2017 by India’s Ashok Leyland Company. It was registered in January 2018. The bus has 40 passenger seats mentioned in the registration. After that fitness certificate is taken almost every year. However, the fitness certificate of the bus has expired on January 18. A route permit was taken to run it from Syedabad in Dhaka to Khulna.

According to BRTA, the bus was purchased under the joint name of Social Islami Bank Panthpath Branch and Imad Private Limited Company. The owner of the company is Habibur Rahman Sheikh. His house is in Haroon Tower, Alia Madrasa Road, Gopalganj Sadar.

When asked about this, BRTA Chairman Noor Mohammad Majumder admitted to Prothom Alo that this bus has caused accidents before. Its movement permit was then suspended. Still moving is a great injustice. For this, the process of canceling the registration of the bus and taking legal action against the owner has started.

A BRTA official, on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo that BRTA does not have the manpower or the system to check whether the buses are plying on the road after issuing the route permit or whether they are resuming after suspension. The police can take action at any time. Now it is difficult to enforce punishment if the police are silent.