Transport strike set to begin in Pabna
Vehicular communication through Pabna is set to be hampered as its transport owners and workers are likely to enforce an indefinite strike from this morning in protest of extortion and harassment by their counterparts in Shahzadpur upazila on the highway to Sirajganj.
Communication with 22 districts and movement of vehicles between southern and northern districts through the highways of Pabna will be suspended, according to transport owners and workers.
The local administration, however, said they are trying to solve the problem.
President of Pabna district transport owners association, freedom fighter Habibur Rahman Habib, said vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Pabna highway in Sirajganj's Shahzadpur has been hampered for over a week due to the harassment of Pabna transport workers going through the upazila to Sirajganj.
"The men of [Shahzadpur] transport owners and the transport workers association used to collect excessive toll from vehicles going from Pabna to Dhaka on the highway. Shahzadpur transport men often assault workers of vehicles of Pabna when they are driving on the highway," Habibur Rahman Habib told the Daily Star.
He said transport movement to and from Pabna on its highways will remain closed indefinitely.
Talking to The Daily Star, Md Firoz Khan, former president of transport workers association, claimed no step was taken to resolve the issue, which is why transport owners and workers decided on the indefinite transport strike.
"We had placed a six-point demand on Monday with a 72-hour deadline for fulfilling them, but till now no step has been taken in this regard, so the strike has kicked off," Firoz Khan said.
However, Pabna Deputy Commissioner Kabir Mahamud told The Daily Star that the Pabna district administration has already talked to the Sirajganj district administration and the transport leaders of both districts. "We are trying our best to solve the problem," The DC added.
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