SMP returning seized battery-run vehicles on pledge not to ply them in city
Photo: Collected
Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) has decided to return seized battery-run rickshaws, easy-bikes, mishuks and tomtoms to their owners and drivers on conditions. The vehicles had been seized during drives against these illegal vehicles plying the metropolitan area.
The decision was announced in a public notice signed by SMP Commissioner Sarwar Morshed Shamim today, Sunday.
The notice said the seized vehicles had been kept at an open dumping ground. At the request of owners and drivers and on humanitarian grounds, it was decided at an SMP meeting on 8 November to return them. The condition is that these vehicles cannot be driven in the Sylhet metropolitan area in future.
Under the decision, owners or drivers of vehicles seized between 1 May and 15 November this year have been asked to contact the SMP traffic division with the necessary documents.
To get their vehicles back, applicants must submit two copies of passport-size colour photographs, an application with a phone number, an attested photocopy of the national identity card and the original wrecker slip relating to the seizure. They must also give an undertaking on Tk 100 non-judicial stamp paper that these vehicles will not be driven in the metropolitan area in future. They must further pledge that the returned vehicles will not be sold in the Sylhet metropolitan area.
SMP CTSB deputy commissioner and media officer Md Afzal Hossain said that if any illegal battery-run vehicle plies the metropolitan area again after the public notice, strict legal action will be taken against those involved.
Background
According to a bdnews24.com report of 1 November 2025, police launched drives against battery-run rickshaws in Sylhet city from late September 2025; many rickshaws were seized and power connections to several charging points were cut.
District angle
According to a Jugantor report of 9 November, Sylhet’s transport workers have announced an indefinite strike from 16 November if their five-point demands are not met; the demands include a ban on battery-run rickshaws and easy-bikes.
At a glance
According to a Bangla Tribune report of 29 October, the government has issued a gazette notification of the ‘Low-Speed Three-Wheeled Battery-Run Rickshaw Operation Rules in City Corporation Areas, 2026’, which bans e-rickshaws on national highways, expressways, elevated expressways and BRT roads.
Sources
Background sources: bdnews24.com, 1 November 2025; Jugantor, 9 November 2026; Bangla Tribune, 29 October 2026
