S Dilip Roy

The rates are fixed. Every ten-wheeler truck has to pay Tk 800. A six-wheeler truck pays Tk 500. But the receipt given to truck drivers on the way to the Burimari land port in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila is marked Tk 35. For the last few years and despite complaints to the police and local administration, a private syndicate continues to collect illegal tolls from cargo trucks destined for the Indian border.

“We pay tolls of up to Tk 800,” says one truck driver, Sirajul Islam, 52, from Rangpur, “But we are given a token for labourers' welfare that is made out for only Tk 35. We never get any help from the local administration regarding these illegal tolls; we are habituated to paying the money since the tolls have become a tradition on this route.”

“We are bound to pay the tolls,” says another truck driver, Asadul Islam, 46, from Bogra. “It isn't possible to carry goods to or from the land port if the toll hasn't been paid. If we refuse, the syndicate members make trouble.”

Local parliamentarian and former state minister of education Motahar Hossain is aware of the problem. On 13 February this year he sent a letter to the prime minister seeking intervention to uproot the ongoing collection of illegal tolls.

“I have tried my level best to fix the situation,” he says. “But thus far I have failed. Somehow, it would seem, the syndicate has managed to dissuade the local administration from taking action.”

“Burimari land port is vital to this constituency's socio-economic development,” he continues. “If the toll collection continues there's a risk that this land port will become unviable, and if that occurs it will severely impact the local economy. I hope the prime minister can help us soon.”

According to the parliamentarian's letter, an average of 1,200 trucks transport goods, principally quarried stone, through the land port every day. It means that the syndicate potentially earns in the region Tk 8 lakh per day from illegal tolls.

Talking to The Daily Star, some local labour leaders alleged that an influential ruling party leader, also a clearing agent at the land port, is behind the toll collection syndicate. They claim some other leaders are also involved.

Burimari land port Transport Workers Union President Awlad Hossain said they only collect a toll of Tk 35 from each truck driver as a contribution to the labourer welfare fund. He said they never pressure any driver to pay illegal tolls.

Patgram Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Sajjad Hossain, meanwhile, says that no truck driver or transport owner has ever raised an allegation of illegal toll extraction with the police, and for this reason the police haven't conducted any drive against the practice. “Of course if we were ordered by higher authorities to conduct such a drive,” he says, “we would.”

Patgram Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Noor Qutubul Alam notes that a joint meeting between members of the district administration, police and businesspeople was held in the first week of March this year but it didn't bring any output as the illegal toll collection from the transport is still going on. “I have informed our Deputy Commissioner (DC) sir, of the matter and without government's higher authority's necessary step it would not be possible to make Burimari land port free from illegal toll collection,” he said adding they are waiting higher authority's direction and measure in this regard.