Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: An opposition lawmaker today in parliament criticised the government for making former shipping minister Shahjahan Khan the head of a 15-member committee to work out recommendations for curbing road accidents and restoring discipline in transport sector as the latter sparked controversy in the past.
However, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the former shipping minister was made the chief of the committee as he is an experienced person in the sector.
While raising a supplementary question in the House, Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam said whether it will be fruitful to control illegal drugs by ex-Awami League MP Abdur Rahman Bodi and ensure road safety by Shahjahan Khan.
“Huge controversy was created across the country after Shahjahan Khan’s comment that a driver can be given licenece if he can differentiate between a cow and a goat. His smirk (over deaths of two students) also created a dangerous situation in the country. How much the government can keep its commitment by a person like him?” Imam questioned.
Replying to the question, Quader said they convened an emergency meeting of National Road Safety Council on Sunday as the road safety situation has deteriorated recently for the rise in road accidents.
He said Home Minister, the transport sector’s experts and leaders, including columnist Syed Abdul Maksud and Ilias Kanchan, and police officials were present at the meeting.
Quader said the 15-member committee was formed at the meeting to formulate recommendations to control the road accidents, and Shahjahan Khan’s name was proposed as the head of it. “But no one, who was present at the meeting, opposed the proposal.”
“There’re 14 more members at the committee under him (Shahjahan). We’ll not give importance to any person here…we’ll focus on the report to be made by the all committee members to bring back discipline in the transport sector, and we’ll take next course of action in this regard,” Quader said.
He also said the report will be prepared by all the committee members, not by any individual. “His (Shahjahan’s) name was proposed as he is an experienced person.”
The Minister also hoped that a good report will be prepared by the committee.
Earlier on Sunday, the 15-member committee, headed by Shahjahan Khan, was formed at the 26th meeting of National Road Safety Council held at the office of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
The committee will recommend within 14 days how to control road accidents and restore discipline in the road transport sector.
