Water transport workers withdraw strike

Water transport workers have withdrawn their work abstentions following the authorities' assurance to meet their demand.

The decision came at a meeting between Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Chairman Commodore Golam Sadeq and leaders of transport workers and owners at Sadarghat Launch Terminal, Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, general secretary of Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation, told The Daily Star.

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury took part in the meeting over phone, he added.

Earlier today, water transport workers went on an indefinite strike in Dhaka and Barishal after Marine Court in the capital sent two of their fellows to jail in a case filed over a waterway accident.

"No launch left Dhaka's Sadarghat Launch Terminal after 4:00pm as the workers went on work abstention," Joynal Abedin, joint director for Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), told The Daily Star at the time.

The Marine Court in Dhaka sent two launch masters -- Master Ruhul Amin and Master Jamal Hossain -- to jail during a hearing of the case in the morning today, our Barishal correspondent reports quoting Mostafizur Rahman, officer at Barishal Port.

The case was filed as two launches collided near Chandpur on February 15 last year, he said.

Master Abul Hashem, president of Barishal Noujan Sramik Federation, said that the workers had announced the strike demanding release of the two accused.