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The government will introduce KPI (Key Point Installation) security for the metro rail to prevent any vandalism, said Road Transport and Bridges Advisor Muhammed Fouzul Kabir Khan.
“We’re working to upgrade this (metro rail) into KPI to prevent any vandalism and increase security. Also, we’ve taken the initiative to declare it as an essential service so that no one can disrupt it,” he said, reports bdnews24.com.
Dhaka’s metro rail service resumed in Dhaka on Sunday after being suspended for 37 days following the violence surrounding the quota reform movement. Advisor Faozul made the remark after reaching the Secretariat station from Agargaon station by the metro rail.
Those structures important for the national economy or defence have KPI security facilities. The road transport advisor did not provide details on how the KPI system would be implemented for the metro rail, a public transport system.
The government will also have the power to ban strikes or work stoppages if the metro rail is announced as an ‘essential service.’ Any person opting for an illegal strike will get a year in jail or Tk 25,000 in fines or both, as per the Essential Services Act 2023.
The metro rail was attacked, vandalised, and torched on Jul 18 amid the protests calling for reforms to the quota system for government jobs. The following day, there were attacks on the Kazipara and Mirpur-10 stations as well as the Pallabi and Mirpur-11 stations. Dhaka’s first metro rail service was suspended from then until Sunday.
When asked if those who vandalised the metro rail stations would be brought under the law, the advisor said that there was a problem as the issue was related to the mass movement. “All cases have been withdrawn since it [the vandalism] was part of a mass movement. But all of you are aware that those who were involved in the movement to bring change to the country, could not engage in such acts.”
“Criminals have done it. We have the video footage showing them. We’ll take the necessary measures.”
The Mirpur-10 and Kazipara stations, damaged during the recent violence, will still remain closed. Advisor Faozul said they were trying to find out when those stations could resume service.
“Three or four days ago, we discussed the issue with the Japanese company that set up the metro rail. Now we’re working to reopen services on other routes. The Japanese envoy will visit me this evening,” he said.“
“We’ll discuss how quickly we can reopen the Kazipara and Mirpur-10 stations. We asked the metro rail MD to assess the damage [at those stations] and provide us with a specific timeline to reopen them.:
Meanwhile, 10 to 20 staff members of the metro rail halted their work on Aug 8 demanding a ‘non-discriminatory’ salary structure after the fall of the Hasina government. They returned to work last Tuesday.
On Aug 11, officials involved in running the metro rail said that before service was resumed it would be scrutinised and a week of testing would be done starting on Monday or Tuesday. An order was given to resume service from Aug 17.
However, all metro rail service staff members returned to their work on Aug 20. Hence the reopening of metro rail took longer.
“You all know that the current government is one people expect a lot from. When I was sworn in, the chief advisor told me my first job was to restore the metro rail service. We did that. We had to form the board again. The board held some meetings and placed their demands. We looked into them,” he said.
The metro rail was scheduled to reopen on Aug 17, but it could not be done due to some officers and staff members, he said.
“It’s not a good sign when some people try to push for demands by taking 300,000 passengers hostage,” the advisor said
Bangladesh is having ‘a season of protests and demands,’ the advisor commented. “Everyone wants discrimination or disparity to be eliminated. It was oppression for 16 years… and the current government came to power only 16 days ago. At least give us 16 months. We’ll consider everything gradually.”
He said there would be an increase in inflation if the government tried to resolve all the demands at once.
“We must remember that all these demands have a connection with finance. How can the government provide all this when there’s no surge in revenue collection or increase of income from any other source? If we just print banknotes, then it’ll lead to inflation. And common people will suffer. Hence, this [strike by metro rail workers] was an untoward incident and we hope it won’t happen in future.”