Sudden strike spells misery for Ctg commuters
A section of transport workers of the port city suddenly went on a strike yesterday, making commuters endlessly wait for vehicles. The worker leaders said they were compelled to do so to protest "Police harassment".
Regular workers, however, said leaders forced the workers to go on strike because of their ulterior motives.
As public vehicles did not ply different routes, commuters, especially office-goers and students, had to suffer immensely.
Shahidullah Chowdhury, a private-job holder, was seen waiting at Muradpur in the morning for a bus. He said he had been there for about an hour but did not see a single bus.
"I didn't have any idea about the strike," he said. "People are talking about the strike, but there was no announcement."
Tenth-grader Tasnuva Binte Masud was waiting for a bus at Bahaddarhat intersection like many others there. She was already late for school, as she was standing there for half an hour.
"I tried getting a rickshaw, but they're demanding three to four times the regular fair," she said.
But what actually triggered the sudden strike?
This correspondent contacted several transport workers to find out. Seeking anonymity, many of them said the workers had nothing to do with the strike, rather a section of leaders forced them to take this decision.
It all started after police on Wednesday arrested a person who was extorting money from public vehicles at Kattali on direction of worker leaders, one of them said.
"A section of leaders appoint such people on different routes to extort money from public vehicles, in the name of 'route expenditure'," he said. "We can't protest this. When police take action against the extortionists, the leaders force us to go on strike to put pressure on police and the administration."
Contacted, Oli Ahmed -- general secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, Chattogram unit -- said police were harassing transport workers on different routes.
"Police arrested five workers from different areas on Wednesday and filed extortion cases against them," he said. "So, workers went on strike to protest."
Asked about the allegation of forcing workers to go on strike, he denied it. "They did it out of their own volition."
Contacted, Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Metropolitan Police's traffic division (north), said he did not know anything about the strike.
Asked about the arrest of five workers, he said they are not workers, rather they were appointed by a section of worker leaders to extort money from public vehicles.
"We will not allow this illegal activity on the roads," he said.
Manjurul Alam Manju, president of Chattogram District Road Transport Owners Association, said transport owners had no connection with the strike.
"The workers went on strike without any valid reason. We do not support it," he said. "If police take legal action against extortionists, workers at large should be happy. But in reality, a section of worker leaders enforced the strike, and common workers had to comply."
"I would like to urge them to call off the strike for the sake of commuters, " he added.
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