Transport Strike: Sufferings on for slow govt response
Slow response from the government left the general public suffering for a second consecutive day as buses and trucks stayed off the roads protesting the fuel price hike.
As if that were not enough, launch owners began an indefinite strike yesterday morning, making it almost impossible for people without a private vehicle to travel.
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As thousands suffered on the roads and terminals, Obaidul Quader, road transport and bridges minister, urged transport association leaders twice to call off the strike. That was all. No minister has formally met the association leaders. Neither did the two authorities, the BRTA and BIWTA, hold a meeting to end the stalemate as the strike began on a weekend. And an "informal" meeting between the home minister and a section of transport leaders yesterday bore no fruit.
Meanwhile, the shipping of goods to the land and sea ports are being delayed as disruptions in the supply chain are causing prices of certain daily essentials to soar.
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity urged the government to cancel its decision to increase fuel prices and relieve the people of the "anarchy".
Transport associations, mostly those of the owners, enforced the indefinite strike of public transport, trucks and lorries from Friday morning.
Bus owners demanded increasing bus fares to cope with the fuel price hike while the owners of trucks and lorries demanded cancellation of fuel price hike.
The government on Wednesday hiked the price of each litre of diesel and kerosene by 23 percent or Tk 15 to cut losses of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation following the rise in fuel prices in the international market.
SLOW RESPONSE FROM THE GOVERNMENT
Hours after the government on Thursday hiked the fuel price, transport association leaders told journalists that they would enforce an indefinite strike from Friday. The announcement came from the Bangladesh Truck, Covered Van, Tank Lorry, Prime Mover Owners and Workers Coordination Council.
On the same day, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association applied to the road transport and bridges ministry to raise bus fares.
Meanwhile, a government committee led by the chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will discuss bus fares today and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) will also hold a meeting today to discuss the fare-related issues.
Obaidul Quader, also the general secretary of the ruling Awami League, yesterday once again requested transport leaders to withdraw the strike.
He and some of his cabinet colleagues were rather busy justifying the government decision to hike the fuel price. They cited the fuel price in India and the global market.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan held a meeting with a group of transport leaders around noon yesterday, but the meeting ended inconclusively.
"So, the transport strike is not going to be withdrawn for now," Talukder Mohammed Monir, one of the top leaders who met the home minister at latter's Dhanmondi house, said.
"The home minister asked us to meet him. We raised our points before him and he heard our points. Now, he will talk with the high ups [of the government] and may call us again," he added.
The home ministry said the meeting was an informal one.
Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Jatri Kalyan Samity, said coming to a resolution would not take this long if the government was eager to solve it.
"People's suffering intensifies due to the delay of the government," he told The Daily Star yesterday.
Khandaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, said, "We hope the problem will be solved at tomorrow's [Sunday] meeting."
Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary Nazrul Islam could not be reached over phone for comments.
Meanwhile, leaders of truck and lorry owners associations decided not to take part in today's meeting as it's solely for fixing bus fares.
They will continue the strike until the government cuts fuel prices to some extent and cut the additional toll for Bangabandhu Bridge and Mukterpur Bridge, association leaders said.
"We hope the government will hold a meeting with us tomorrow. We will not call off the strike until our demands are met," a leader said.
LAUNCH STRIKE
Launch owners suspended launch operations across the country from yesterday to press home their demands: either cancel the fuel price hike or increase the launch fares.
Although their association did not give any formal direction about the strike, launch owners moved their vessels from the terminals, including Sadarghat in Dhaka, around noon yesterday.
The development came a day after Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carriers) Association demanded the government to double launch fares.
"We did not declare a strike, but the owners can't afford the operational cost after the fuel price hike. They stopped operating the launches," Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, president of the association, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Contacted, Rafiqul Islam, director (traffic) of BIWTA, said his office planned to hold a meeting over the fare on Monday, but later decided to do it today.
He added that the meeting could not be held earlier because it was a weekend.
City dwellers had to depend on rickshaws, CNG-run three-wheelers and motorcycles paying exorbitant sums for commuting on the second day of the strike yesterday. There were a few state-owned BRTC buses.
People were seen walking to their destinations in most of the areas.
Candidates of the admission test of the seven Dhaka University-affiliated colleges, Buet and some recruitment tests struggled to reach their exam centres on time.
Piklu Chakrabarty came to Dhaka from Shayestaganj, Habiganj, yesterday to take part in a recruitment exam.
"After failing to get a train ticket, I travelled in a microbus, spending Tk 1,000 to reach Mohakhali. Then I spent Tk 200 to reach Tejgaon College to take part in the exam," he said.
"I am unemployed, I wanted to complete the trip with Tk 1,000; but now I have to borrow Tk 5,000," he added.
Trains and flights faced unusual pressure from passengers throughout the day. Airfare of different domestic routes increased two to three times.
In Cox's Bazar, police yesterday made arrangements to take tourists to Chattogram after several thousand tourists got stranded there.
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