DHAKA, May 20, 2024 (BSS) - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given clearance to plying of battery-powered rickshaws only in Dhaka city considering the suffering of low-income people and impacts of commodity prices amid the ongoing global crises, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said today.

"But, the movement of battery-run auto-rickshaws will remain suspended on 22 highways of the country as per earlier decision," he said while addressing a discussion at the Awami League's Bangabandhu Avenue central office in the capital.

The discussion was organised on the occasion of the founding anniversary of the Awami Olama League.

Quader, also the Awami League General Secretary, said: "We are coming up with new policy. Which is the first priority - livelihood or life? If an easybike collides with a truck and bus, none riding by bus or truck will suffer but all the passengers and drivers of the easybike will be killed. In such situation, we have restricted the movement of easybikes on the 22 highways."

He said Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has been asked to hold a meeting with the representatives of auto-rickshaw drivers and talk to them to this end.

Noting that training of drivers and vehicle size should be brought under a rule, the road transport and bridges minister said the size and wheels of vehicles should be realistic, while BRTA will take effective measures to reach the instructions that the premier has given in this regard to all.

About the arrest of BNP leaders, he said BNP leaders have been sent to jail as offenders, not as BNP members. "The offenders have no party. Their only identity is miscreants and terrorists."

Quader said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had important contribution to the flourishing of holy religion Islam in Bangladesh, while they built many Islamic institutions during their regimes and no other rulers of the country did so like them.

Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary and Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud, AL Publicity and Publication Secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap and Religious Affairs Secretary Sirajul Mostafa, among others, spoke at the meeting with Olama League President KM Abdul Momin Siraji in the chair.

Olama League General Secretary Aminul Haque moderated the meeting.

Claiming that BNP-Jamaat has now become the friend of Jews, Dr Hasan Mahmud said none of Zia-Ershad-Khaleda fulfilled the demands of Alems-Ulamas.

BNP and their allies have used the religious sentiments of the Alems and Ulamas and did politics, he said.

Hasan said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not use Alems-Ulamas but works for them, while she built 1.2 lakh mosque-based maktabs (seminaries).

He said the AL government built so many eye-catching mosques in the country with its own funds.