Ctg battery-run rickshaw owners block highway for 2hrs
Owners and drivers of battery-run auto-rickshaws today blocked Dhaka-Chittagong highway for over two hours protesting a government move to stop plying of the illegal vehicles on the Chittagong city streets.
Vehicular movements in City Gate area that remain suspended following the blockade became normal after the agitators withdrew the blockade around 1:30pm, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
The owners and driver were convinced when Chittagong Metropolitan Police at a meeting with the protesters assured them of discussing the issue with the local police commissioner, said Tanvir Arafat, additional deputy commissioner of the CMP.
The meeting was held at the nearby house of Chittagong City Corporation Mayor M Manjur Alam in his presence.
In line with a High Court order, local administration started a drive against the illegal auto-rickshaws in the port city on August 31.
Hundreds of drivers and owners of Chittagong City Battery-run Auto-rickshaws Federation took to the streets around 11:15am protesting the government initiative in this regard.
They were also demanding licences for their vehicles from the local administration so that they can ply those on the city roads.
On July 3, the HC banned plying of battery-run rickshaws across the country for not running with valid licences as the law.
The court delivered the judgement after rejecting five writ petitions filed by five rickshaw owners' associations seeking its directives on the Dhaka City Corporations (DCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) last year to allow them to run such vehicles with valid licences in the city corporation areas.
Following the petitions, the HC in January this year issued rules upon the city corporation authorities to explain about the matter. Later, the authorities replied to the HC rules saying that they had no authority to give licences to such rickshaws to ply as per the law.
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