Wildcat bus strike spells trouble for passengers

Travellers suffered a lot due to the bus strike called by Rangpur Motor Malik Samity a day before BNP's rally in the divisional city.

Only a few buses reached Rangpur from Dhaka in the morning, but no bus left Rangpur. Bus services in Rangpur remained completely suspended.

Failing to find Rangpur-bound buses, many had to return home.

Rangpur Motor Malik Samity enforced the strike from 6:00am yesterday to 6:00pm today "demanding three-wheelers to be removed from the highways".

Rafiqul Islam, a resident of Fulchhari upazila of Gaibandha, went to the local bus terminal to get on a bus for Rangpur to go to a hospital. But he failed to go there as no buses left for Rangpur from Gaibandha.

"I am a heart patient… Who will take the responsibility, if I face any problem?" he asked our correspondent in Bogura.

Mizan, a resident of Balichara area of Rangpur city, his wife and three-year-old son went to Kamarpara bus station around 10:30am to travel to Dhaka. But he had to return home.

He said he did not know about the strike.

Businessman Sabbir Hossain and his friend Shahriar Sayeed of the Melananda area of Jamalpur went to Rangpur yesterday morning from Dhaka. They planned to return home the same day.

Around 9:30am, he went to the bus ticket counter but found it closed.

Dhaka University student Pankaj Kumar Roy went to the bus counter in Rangpur to come to Dhaka. He has an exam on Sunday.

He was desperately looking for a bus ticket.

Transport workers were not happy either because of the strike.

Momin Mia, a helper of Shyamoli Paribahan, said, "I will not get the money to buy food. There's no money if there's no bus on the roads."

Aminul Islam, general secretary of Bogura Motor Owners Group, said they were only following the directives of Rangpur Divisional Motor Owners Association.

"We stopped the Rangpur-bound buses for the time being," he said.

On October 18, Khulna District Bus, Minibus, Coach and Microbus Owners' Association and Khulna Motor Sramik Union jointly called a strike from October 20 "demanding three-wheelers to be taken off the roads".

The BNP rally was held there on October 22.

On Wednesday, Barishal District Bus Malik Group called a strike on all routes to Barishal for November 4 and 5. A BNP rally is supposed to be held there on November 5.