Dhaka: Akbar, a juice vendor in Dhaka’s Sher-E-Bangla neighbourhood, is busy crushing sugarcane, serving a queue of people at his cart. With one hand, he collects money and gives out change.
A customer has just had two glasses of juice, but doesn’t have enough pay him. However, Akbar is not bothered.
“It’s okay. It’s on me. Now we don’t have to pay linemen. I can afford to give one glass for free,” he says with a smile as he proceeds to crush more sugarcane. The customer smiles back, finishes the juice and leaves.
For years, Akbar had been paying “line-hafta”, a fee of sorts allegedly collected by people affiliated with the Awami League, the former ruling party in Bangladesh. Street vendors, auto drivers, rickshaw pullers and tea sellers were allegedly being charged between 100 and 200 taka a day, depending on the location of their operation.
These collectors, dressed in civilian clothes, had designated areas, where they would go about collecting money. It is claimed that if someone refused to pay, their name would be noted and given to the police for “action”, which would involve “booking them in fake cases”, the most common one being “drug use”.
Since the fall of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on 5 August, the “linemen” have disappeared, much to the relief of the vendors. “We are so happy that the torture is over,” Akbar says.
“I was paying 150 taka a day to those people, and sometimes, they would even take 250 taka, if the cart had more customers. It would not matter if my cart was operational or closed, or whether I had business or not. I had to keep paying this amount to be allowed to run my business in peace,” he recounts. “Once or twice, when I refused to pay, I was threatened, even beaten up. We are happy they are gone.”
He is quick to add, “People would say, so what if you paid a hafta? It happens everywhere, even in your country (India). But you have no idea what a relief this is to us. The extortion had crossed all limits.”
Mohammad Bilal, a tea vendor in the area, echoes the sentiment. He says that if the vendors refused to pay what was asked of them, the police would show up the next day to seize their carts and slap fake charges against them.
“They would take the vendors to the police station and slap fake cases of drug use, smuggling, selling of drugs, etc. One of my friends was kept in custody until he paid both the linemen and police,” says Bilal. “Now, we are all free from the line-kharch and the harassment.”
Bangladesh’s Inspector General of Police Mainul Islam acknowledges the problem. He tells ThePrint that an overhaul of the system is needed.
“We are aware of this problem of corruption and extortion from local people. The police’s job now is to regain the lost faith of people. We need to convey that the police are their friend. We are working on sensitising the personnel, especially the lower constabulary that deals with people on a daily basis, to ensure this is stopped,” he says. “The changes will take time. It is a process, but it is a work in progress.”
‘They spared no one’
Auto rickshaw, cab and cycle rickshaw drivers say that they were forced to share their profits with the traffic police, depending on the number of trips they took in a day.
Traffic cops would stop them for bribes, and refusal to comply would be met with challans, says Nannu Miyan, an auto rickshaw driver.
He adds that each time a passenger boarded the auto, policemen in the vicinity would charge a “fee”, ranging from 10 to 20 taka, just to allow the rickshaw to move. “This government ruined us. They spared no one. There was so much corruption. Now it is khoob bhalo (very good).”
Abu Karim, a rickshaw puller, once had to give the entire amount he had saved up for his daughter’s medicines to a policeman. “He beat me up and took all the money. I obviously had nowhere to go to complain. Fellow rickshaw pullers told me to keep quiet,” he says.
He adds that even though cycle rickshaws are not allowed to ply the bigger roads, they have to pay the traffic policemen nonetheless. “We do pay a fee to ride on the main road. Everyone knows this. A part of earning has to go to the traffic police.”
‘This is good, no need for election’
The vendors and drivers are content. They do not want an election now.
They fear that even if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party comes to power, the system of extortions will continue. An interim government took over last month after the Awami League government was dissolved.
“We have heard that people from BNP have already started collecting cess in some areas. They know they will come to power being the single largest party in Bangladesh now. No party is good. This interim arrangement (government) is better for us,” Bilal says. “At least now, we are able to take our income back home without any harassment.”
source : theprint