How a Tk5 lakh CNG auto rickshaw ended up costing Tk25 lakh

Mosharraf Hossain had narrowly escaped. 

At around 10:30 pm, he was standing at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram looking for passengers for his last trip — he wanted passengers heading towards Jatrabari or Saydabad. In the meantime, he ate three puris. Two passengers came and asked him to take them to Dhanmondi and Mirpur. 

After a while, he found a passenger for Dhalkanagar. After dropping the passenger off, he entered the garage, and suddenly started feeling dizzy.  With a little help from another driver, he eventually made it back home.

"If I had taken the passenger to Mirpur or Dhanmondi, I would've been in big trouble."

The highly inflated prices of CNG auto rickshaws have made auto rickshaws a target of thieves. Drivers like Mosharraf often find themselves in such situations and are usually not as lucky.

I set out on the road with three questions in mind. First, how did the price of a CNG auto rickshaw that used to be Tk5 lakh jump to Tk25 lakh? Second, why aren't the authorities allowing new CNG auto rickshaws on the road? And third, why can't the drivers own their vehicles? 

The drivers point fingers at the owners, who, in turn, blame the importers and the regulatory authorities.

Working 12 to 13 hours daily

I was standing near a filling station in Mirpur 10. There was a long line of CNG auto rickshaws. There was a gas shortage at the time, forcing all drivers to refuel before 6pm. The queue was moving forward slowly, and every few minutes, the drivers started up the engine and moved their vehicles a foot or two, before turning off the ignition. It was a tiring task.

Matinuddin has been on the road since the era of baby taxis (1995). He came to Dhaka from a village in the hope of changing his fortune, but he could not return after that. 

"My life is living on the road. I am now too old to leave. I have to pay Tk1,100 to the owner, Tk500 for gas, and Tk200 for expenses on the road. I spend a total of Tk1,800-1,900 daily. Whatever's left keeps my family going."

"I don't know a driver who can think of buying a CNG auto rickshaw for 25 lakh. I don't see any hope. Working hard for 12 to 13 hours daily — dealing with the dust, noise, and potholes in the road filled with water, paralyses the body. But guess what? We hit the road again the very next day. No way around it."

Matin was the first one to shed light on the reason behind the high price of CNG auto rickshaws. 

"The price shot up to Tk25 lakhs just because new registrations have been stopped. Only if those with old registrations want to sell can you get a vehicle. That's why the old owners can set their price at whim. In 2008 there were plans to allocate 5,000 CNG auto rickshaws to drivers. But the owner's association filed a case and so we lost the opportunity."

Matinuddin slowly reached the pump. I went to Shafiqul Islam. He was born in 1974 in Jamalpur and moved to Dhaka in 1989 due to poverty. He then started driving baby taxis in 1996. At the time, the deposit was Tk 150. He could save some money after taking care of his day-to-day expenses.

In 2001, the baby taxis were phased out and replaced by CNG auto rickshaws. At the time, the price of the chassis was estimated at two to two and a half lakh takas. Several thousand would have to be spent to get the body made, number plates, fitness certificate and other documents. 

However, Shafiqul thinks that for owners, CNG auto rickshaw is the most profitable business out of all the transport businesses, including buses and trucks.

Shafiqul goes out for work at eight in the morning and returns at 11 at night. But it was 10 o'clock today, when he got out. His wife's been in the hospital for a month and a half, dealing with thyroid and diabetes issues. Holding up his tiffin container, he said, "I brought rice, lentils, and mashed potato to the hospital. I fed her, had my meal too, then headed back. Managed to complete four trips till now.'

Paying 'Manti' for illegally operated CNGs

I was walking around the Mirpur Indoor Stadium outdoors. I saw a driver cleaning his CNG. His name is Anwar Hossain and he lives in Narayanganj. Although his vehicle is from Shahjahanpur, he keeps it in Narayanganj. He sends the deposit to the owner via Bkash.

His vehicle is registered in the district. These vehicles are not allowed to enter Dhaka. The cost of a CNG auto rickshaw in the district is less than half that of Dhaka (Metro). There are other types of CNG auto rickshaws that have a "private" logo on them, which can be bought at a lower price. However, the commercial movement of these vehicles is not legal. Still, they are operated in Dhaka with the help of 'Manti'.

'Manti' is kind of a monthly deal where drivers give a bit of cash to the traffic cops to drive inside the city. 

Anwar comes to Panchabati every day with his CNG auto rickshaw, then has breakfast. He has to pay Tk20 to park the vehicle. After onboarding passengers, he moves towards Dhaka and starts taking trips inside Dhaka. At noon he has lunch in a hotel on the road. Today, he ate three plates of rice with Murighonto. It cost Tk115. His deposit is Tk800.

'The day before yesterday, I had to take a police wrecker case of Tk700. These people just use us however they want, and we have to go along with it. People point fingers at us – "You don't follow the meter!" But you know what? If we stick to that meter, we won't even have a family to go home to.'

A source at the owner's association office, unwilling to be named, said there are 15,500 registered CNGs in Dhaka. But privately owned and district CNGs included, the number reaches around 20,000. 

"These can be rented at will with monthly Manti of four or four and a half thousand taka. Many meetings have been held on behalf of the owners' association. But there was no solution."

I suddenly met Jainal Mia, a private CNG auto rickshaw driver in Eskaton. "Owner runs it by paying Manti," he said. The daily deposit for this type of CNG auto rickshaw is also less. 

"I don't like the job of a driver anymore. There is a lot of trouble on the roads. I will go to the village after my daughter's SSC exam," he said sadly.

Owners' Association 

The office of the CNG Auto Rickshaw Owners Association is not far from the Moghbazar railway line. A small open area; next to it is a workshop and a few motor parts shops. No official was present in the office. But I met a CNG owner. He did not want to reveal his name but did not mind talking. His family has been associated with the transport business for a long time. 

"We hung onto the registration number of that Mishuk or Baby-Taxi for ages. But then, when they swapped it for the CNG autorickshaw's number plate, it ended up costing way more than what the government had levied. After that, the government slapped a 14-year lifespan on a CNG auto rickshaw," he said when asked why Tk5 lakh CNG is sold for Tk25 lakh.

"After 14 years, when the vehicles were dumped around 2015 or 2016, it took 5-7 lakh taka to get another one."

"There is a certain company that imports CNG auto rickshaws in our country.  The whole business dances to their tune. They're raking in Tk2 to 2.5 lakh from each vehicle. These guys are like the big shots, nobody dares to mess with them. Us little folks, we're just doing our bit, but that's what grabs everyone's attention."

New CNG auto rickshaws are not being issued. Did you ask the authorities why? I asked. 

"They say, there is less space on city streets. New cars mean more traffic. But you see new  motorcycles, private cars and buses."

No shortage of buyers

I finally spoke with Barkatullah Bulu, President of the CNG Auto Rickshaw Owners' Association. He admitted that the owners take more than the deposit set by the government (Tk900). 

"This amount was set a decade ago, in 2013. Since then, prices of everything, including spare parts, have gone up. The government, however, may soon revise the deposit to Tk1,200," he said.

About a vehicle worth Tk5 lakh being sold for Tk25 lakh, Bulu said, "As new registrations are not being issued, selling prices are increasing. This phenomenon exists everywhere — what is scarce is high in demand, and thus high in price. Since this business earns something at the end of the day, even if the price is high, there is no shortage of buyers."