Battered by several rounds of coronavirus lockdown, bus owners in Bangladesh have sought financial aid from the government as they are buckling under the burden of loans taken from banks.
They have sought Tk 50 billion in incentives from the government for the transport sector and an exemption from interests for the rest of the year.
As infections spread across Bangladesh, the government had to impose a ban on the public transport system altogether or restrictions several times in the last 15 months.
This led to a halt on the earnings of bus operators for about four months while expenses increased.
Their vulnerability will increase further if the government does not come forward to help them, said the leaders of the bus owners’ associations.
“We are living in anxiety as the transport sector remained shut down during the entire lockdowns,” said Khandaker Enayetullah, secretary-general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association.
The number of people owning around 400,000 buses across Bangladesh is nearly 200,000, according to him.
“There's no income but we have to pay the bank loan instalments. Also, we have to fulfil the workers' demands. The bus owners are now facing a dire situation.”
The owners are also focusing on the workers’ plights as the pandemic has upended their lives, Enayetullah claimed.
"Many owners don't have a garage and are compelled to leave their buses on the streets unsafely. Engine parts are getting stolen from the buses," said Enayetullah, owner of Ena Paribahan.
He demanded that the government announce a Tk 50 billion incentive package for the transport sector.
The owners will repay the amount when the situation goes back to normal and they start to earn again, he said.
"Our biggest problem now is to pay the bank loan instalments and interest when we have no income. We urge (the government) to exempt us from paying interests until December."
The loans distributed among transport sector entrepreneurs stood at Tk 40.66 billion as of June 2020, according to the Bangladesh Bank.
The government announced incentive packages to cushion the shattered economy amid the pandemic, but it did not include a separate allocation for the transport sector.
The Bangladesh Bank approved a Tk 1 billion refinancing scheme in May to provide long term loans with a low-interest rate to the bus owners affected by the pandemic.
"Under the Bangladesh Bank scheme, a programme started to modernise and revamp the transport system in Dhaka. It will include new entrepreneurs, who will get loans from the fund," said Enayetullah.
“I have a huge bank credit and have to pay the monthly instalments. But I failed to repay recently as I had no earnings during the lockdowns over the past one and a half years,” said Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, president of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association.
The owner of Shyamoli Paribahan also demanded exemption from bank loan interests until December.
He also urged the government to allow public transports to run upon adhering to the health protocols. “This will make the lives of thousands of entrepreneurs and transport workers a bit easy.”
“I don’t want assistance from anyone. I don't want to share my problem. Allah has given us the problem and he’ll be the one to resolve it,” said a frustrated Kafiluddin, owner of Hanif Paribahan, which has one of the biggest fleets in the public transport sector.
The government has not rolled out a separate incentive package for the bus owners, but public transport entrepreneurs can get loans under the common package, said Bangladesh Bank spokesman Md Serajul Islam.
“We don’t have the authority to announce an incentive package. We can only help in implementing the government policies. If the government announces a separate package for the (transport) sector, we’ll assist in implementing it through the banks,” said Md Anwarul Islam, s general manager of the central bank.
