Called off after 3-day suffering
Transport owners and workers of northern districts and greater Mymensingh have withdrawn their strike, but CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners in the capital yesterday called a 72-hour strike causing immense suffering to city dwellers.
The decision of withdrawing the strike came last evening following assurance of the government to sit with the transport leaders to discuss their demands immediately, said officials of the communications ministry and transport leaders.
"We have withdrawn our strike as the communications minister has assured us to fulfil our demand," said Momtaz Uddin, president of Mymensingh Transport Owners Association.
"After getting assurance from the government high-ups that our demands will be considered with enough priority, we have decided to postpone the strike for ten days," Manzur Rahman Peter, convener of Rajshahi Bus Truck Owners and Workers Oikya Parishad, told The Daily Star.
Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity Secretary General Khandaker Enayet Ullah told The Daily Star the communications minister would sit with the transport leaders within a week.
Besides, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has already directed law enforcers to launch an immediate drive against unauthorised vehicles like 'Nosimon', 'Korimon' and 'Bhotbhoti' in a move to meet one of their major demands, he added.
Vehicles started to ply in these districts last evening, said transport staff. Until then the southern people had to endure immense sufferings due to the around-60-hour-long strike as road communications between Dhaka and 16 districts remained suspended.
In absence of buses, passengers thronged the railway stations in large numbers, forcing disruption in the train schedule in Dhaka and other districts.
Kitchen market traders have also incurred huge loss as they could not carry their goods to the capital. Some of them have managed to transport their goods but had to pay more than double in fares.
Imported goods at Hilly land port in Dinajpur also got stranded due to the strike. Besides, a section of transport labourers allegedly collected toll from private cars and microbuses.
Many people had to walk several kilometres to get transport in vain and were seen returning home, report our correspondents from different districts.
Transport workers and owners in Rajshahi division enforced the strike Sunday morning to press home their six-point demand including a ban on unauthorised vehicles on the highways and stopping toll collection by police and harassment by BRTA.
Besides, Dhaka division unit of Bangladesh Road Transport Samity on Monday called the strike in Mymensingh, Netrakona, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Kishoreganj, Tangail, Gazipur and Dhaka from 6:00am yesterday in protest against an attack on their leaders and workers in Netrakona by Ansar members on May 24.
They raised a seven-point demand including immediate withdrawal of the Netrakona deputy commissioner, stopping extortion by police, and banning unregistered pick-up vans, auto-rickshaws and other vehicles on the highways.
CNG STRIKE
CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners went on a 72-hour strike in the capital from 6:00am yesterday to press home their five-point demand that includes increasing economic lifespan of the vehicles to 15 years.
In a development last night, Nazrul Islam, chairman of BRTA, said the government has taken a decision to extend the economic life of CNG-run auto-rickshaws from 11 years to 15 years.
The communications ministry issued a notice in this regard yesterday.
“We have talked to the auto-rickshaw Malik Samity Oikya Parishad and we hope they will withdraw the strike,” the BRTA boss said.
Earlier in the day, the city dwellers suffered heavily as very few auto-rickshaws were seen on the streets. Buses were overcrowded, while taxicab drivers charged extra fares from the commuters to cash in on the situation.
Hundreds of commuters were seen waiting for buses standing in long queues on different bus stops in the city.
Auto-rickshaws were introduced in Dhaka in 2002 with an economic lifespan of nine years. Later, the government increased its lifespan by two more years that expired last December.
Following their movement, the BRTA and Communications Minister Obaidul Quader last month assured the auto-rickshaw owners to increase the lifespan further.
"But, the decision has yet to be implemented due to bureaucratic tangles," said ATM Najmul Hasan, member-secretary of Dhaka Mahanagar CNG-Auto Rickshaw Malik Samity Oikya Parishad, an alliance of three organisations of auto-rickshaw owners.
Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association along with several other drivers' association of CNG-run auto-rickshaws have meanwhile strongly criticised the strike and demanded its immediate withdrawal.
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