Truck drivers: The unsung heroes of the country's supply chain
Long hours, low income, hijackers, police extortion and abuse mar the life on the highway for the unrecognised workers who enable supply chains across the country. The Business Standard takes a deep dive into the truck and covered van drivers’ lives
It is early evening on a Wednesday at the Tejgaon Truck Stand in Dhaka.
The front of the Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Drivers Union office is abuzz with transport companies agents, drivers and helpers. Some of them are playing ludu with smartphones resting on the seats of parked motorcycles.
Some are talking to their family members, some are negotiating prices for cargo transport over the phone. Behind the union office is the Tejgaon Truck Stand, which is full of parked trucks.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Mohammad Redwan, a 26-year-old driver, has parked his covered van there. He has arrived here from Chittagong port with a truck full of imported fabric, and will head out for Gazipur soon to unload his truck at a garment factory.
"I came to the stand early in the morning and did maintenance work on the vehicle all day. Now I will go to Gazipur, unload the cargo and sleep inside the vehicle at night. Then I will wait for the next trip call," said Redwan, standing by his covered van.
Redwan had to spend most of his seven-year career on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highways and made the covered van his home, where he sleeps on most nights. He takes baths at different places - truck stands or petrol pumps. He had his meals at restaurants almost every day for the last seven years. He had to skip meals, baths and sleep on countless occasions to deliver cargo on time.
Redwan married a few years ago. His whole family resides in his hometown Ramgoti in Laxmipur, where he visits for a few days every three or four months. A sort of holiday, if you will. He misses them, but he has to stay on the highway for 30 days a month. Redwan does not have a home in Dhaka.
When he came to Dhaka looking for work seven years ago, he was desperate.
"Then I began working as a helper for my cousin for around four years. When I became confident about driving I applied for my driving licence," said Redwan, who is a driver for Selim Cargo Service. Over the last seven years, he has worked on vehicles owned by several different companies.
To provide an example of his daily life, Redwan recounts his previous day. Along with his 16-year-old helper Ahad, they departed from the Chittagong Port area at 9 pm. When he came out of the port last night, he only had a snack of bread, banana and biscuits.
"I have to drive 24 hours at a stretch due to traffic jams on the highways and cargo depots and when I feel sleepy, we park the van beside a shop to have a cup of tea or coffee to stay awake," said Redwan.
Like Redwan, tens of thousands of trucks and covered-van drivers are always on the move to keep the country's supply chain seamless. They are working to deliver you fresh vegetables at Karwan Bazaar and essential shops around the corner of your home. They are playing a key role in increasing the export earnings of the country. But, they lead an incredibly unique and difficult life.
On average, transport companies pay drivers and helpers altogether Tk5-6 thousand as salary a month.
Additionally, Redwan gets around Tk6,500 cash for a three-day round trip from Dhaka to Chittagong and back to Dhaka, which they call 'commission' or 'line expense'. The commission includes bridge toll, labour and food expenses.
"We spend Tk4,000 on the trip and can earn Tk2,500 from every trip. The fuel and other things are provided by the companies. If we can complete eight trips a month, we can earn 20,000 above our salary," he said.
Redwan's future plan is to save some money to buy a rental car so that he can drive it in his hometown.
The road transport regulatory authority Bangladesh Road Transport Authority statistics shows that till August 2022, the agency has provided registration to more than 1,47,584 trucks and more than 44,292 covered vans across the country - meaning the total number of these two vehicles active across the country is somewhere around 2 lakh.
Although Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has facilities to train drivers on how to drive heavy trucks and covered vans, BRTC officials said that on average 100 people come to such training in a year, and most of them learn driving to work abroad.
"Most of the drivers in Bangladesh tend to learn driving by becoming helpers first," said Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Unit Chief of the Tejgaon Training Centre of BRTC.
A life of risk on the highways
Redwan is very annoyed with private cars and motorcycles on the highways.
"They ply the streets at such a low level that we cannot see them sitting at our steering. If I am not extremely cautious, there will definitely be an accident," said Redwan.
"Everyone blames the big vehicle," said Redwan.
Covered van drivers believe driving trucks is a more difficult job because if it rains they have to cover the cargo with a tarpaulin. And then if a driver feels sleepy, there is no space to sleep in the truck.
Hijacking is also commonplace - more specifically between Katchpur and Daudkandi Bridge on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.
"My vehicle is full of fabric worth around Tk1 to 1.5 crores. If the vehicle is hijacked, I will be the first to go to jail," said Redwan, adding that only two people, he and his 16-year-old helper Ahad, are solely responsible for securely transporting the products.
Redwan has fallen victim before.
"Once I stopped my vehicle at a quiet place at around 1 am. Some young people came and at knifepoint they took our mobile phone and money," said Redwan.
Redwan said that when the vehicles are loaded with export or import cargos, the factory official keeps their photos and driving licence numbers.
Sabbir, another driver, has also encountered snatchers in the Signboard Road area of the city.
"I was talking over the phone while driving when someone tried to snatch my phone but failed. When I tried to defend myself, he attacked me with a knife. Then he threatened to kill me. I gave him Tk500 and asked for mercy," the young driver recounted.
Unlicensed drivers, addiction issues and harassment
Like Redwan, Mohammad Faisal from Sonapur in Noakhali came to the driving profession through his maternal uncle Jahangir, who also is a covered van driver. Faisal said that he sat for the SSC examination in 2019.
"I failed in one subject as the new education minister Dipu Moni made the questions hard," said Faisal.
It took him three months to work as a helper before becoming a confident driver. He is now driving a covered van for the S Alam company for the last one and a half years.
As oil prices have gone up in the country, the demand for transport has come down a bit and he has been waiting for hours to secure a new trip.
"As I drive with a light vehicle licence, the police often stop my vehicle. When I cannot show papers, I have to pay money or the police file a case. On many occasions, factory owners do not want me to carry their products," said Faisal.
The longest time Faisal had to drive the vehicle at a stretch was for 24 hours because of traffic jams.
Truck drivers often face accusations of being addicted to drugs, which has been cited in the past as a source of fatal accidents on the streets.
Faisal denied most drivers resorted to drugs and said that most accidents happen late at night because drivers feel sleepy.
"One night I felt sleepy and found that my vehicle was swinging left and right. I realised that the vehicle was not under my control. Then I stopped the vehicle on the side of the road and took a nap," said Faisal.
Some drivers however admitted there are some truck drivers who abuse drugs.
Every day tens of thousands of trucks come to different wholesale markets in Dhaka with products from different corners of the country. One of the most important wholesale vegetable markets is Karwan Bazaar. On Tuesday night, a 23-year-old truck driver Sabbir came to Karwan Bazaar with a truck full of potatoes.
He departed from Munshiganj at around 8 pm and reached Karwan Bazaar at 10 pm. After unloading the 105 sacks of potatoes, he went to have dinner at a restaurant inside the Karwan Bazaar.
Sometimes he goes to the Kadamtali area in the city to avoid the traffic sergeants, because he does not have his driving licence.
"We live like street dogs. We earn money but we cannot take that money home, we have to spend the money on the streets," said the young truck driver.
Sabbir recently applied for a driving licence but it got stuck because he failed one out of five dope tests for driving licences.
"I was unwell and as a result, one of the results came positive," said the young driver. He claimed he does not take any kind of drugs.
There are many drivers like Faisal and Sabbir who either do not have a licence or the right licence, and continue to ply the highways by bribing traffic sergeants.
"There have been times when I got slapped and kicked by sergeants; sometimes I have to hold their feet to save the truck from being confiscated and sued," said a truck driver on condition of anonymity
On a typical trip, drivers are stopped numerous times by traffic sergeants. Sometimes, a driver can end up with two or more cases filed against him during a single trip.
One driver said that he had to bribe two different policemen while coming to Dhaka's Karwan Bazaar. He had to give Tk100 to each of them.
Bangladesh Truck Covered Van Owners Association president Tofazzal Hossain Majumder believes that only 20% of truck and covered-van drivers have licence to drive goods-laden trucks. Around 25% of drivers have no driving licences at all. The rest of the 55% drivers drive trucks and covered vans with light and medium vehicle licences.
He alleged that the main problem drivers face on the highway is harassment by highway police personnel.
"They take money and create different hindrances on the highway. "
The Highways Police Cumilla region's chief police super Mohammad Ramatullah admitted that such incidents (police extorting truck/covered van drivers) happen sometimes, but they strive to take strict action against those police officials.
"We have strict instructions for highway police units not to get involved in such incidents," said Mohammad Ramatullah, adding, "whenever we get any specific allegation, we take action against them. We have taken such action against police members too."
Though drivers play an important role in carrying goods from one place to another, they have long been neglected.
"If the drivers have peace of mind, the number of accidents will come down," said Talukder Mohammed Monir, Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Drivers Union President.
He said that the government is constructing two rest facilities for covered van and truck drivers in Cumilla and Sirajganj where they can park their trucks, take baths and sleep.
"I think drivers will be able to access the rest facility in the Cumilla area within two months," said Talukder Mohammed Monir.
