Extortion of 1,400 crore taka in Chittagong alone during the Awami League government

A group in the transport sector of Chittagong district extorted about 1,400 crore taka through extortion in the 16 years of the previous Awami League government. Such information has come to light in the case filed by a transport worker named Shahjahan at Bayezid Bostami Police Station.
The concerned people said that the statement of the transport sector extortion case filed on November 24, 2024, has been told in detail, from which route, how and by whom the extortion was collected, how much money was extorted. Even after this incident, extortion is going on in the transport sector of Chittagong according to the old rules.
The investigation has revealed that a powerful syndicate in the name of various workers’ unions is extorting a huge amount of money from various vehicles including buses-tempos-taxi-minibuses plying on various routes. This syndicate includes a group of 200 people in the name of transport workers. They collect fees in the name of various registered, unregistered and nominal organizations in the name of line management, administration and workers’ welfare. However, not a single penny of the fees has been spent on workers’ welfare.
Besides, there are 18 bus-minibus routes in Chittagong. The number of legal and illegal vehicles on these routes is 1,941. A fee of Tk 291,150 is collected from each vehicle daily. Accordingly, Tk 104,814,000 is collected annually and Tk 1,677,024,000 is collected in 16 years.
Similarly, there are 18 human hauler routes in Chittagong city. The number of legal and illegal vehicles on these routes is 1,866. A fee of Tk 200 is collected daily from these vehicles. The annual fee is Tk 11,196,000 and Tk 179,136,000 is collected in 16 years. 2,100 Maxima vehicles ply in Chittagong city. A fee of Tk 50 is collected daily from each vehicle. 3 crore 78 lakh taka per year and 60 crore 48 lakh taka in 16 years is collected from these vehicles.
Anwar Hossain, General Secretary of the Chittagong Divisional Goods Transport Owners Federation, told us that no toll has been collected anywhere in the transport sector of Chittagong since August 5. The owners pay a fixed fee for the well-organized operation of the lines. If the transport sector is leaderless, there will be no discipline.