Commuters suffer for transport workers' whim

Commuters on the route number 3 between Fatehabad of Hathazari upazila and Chittagong city are suffering for lack of vehicles after evening, as drivers of the human haulers (minibus) have started refusing to leave the city after sundown.
For the whim, the travellers not only have to wait long hours but pay two or three times the regular fare for using alternative transports like auto-rickshaws, which too are inadequate.
Shakhawat Hossain, who travels to the city from Hathazari every day, said he often reached home at night for not availing any transport. Auto-rickshaws charge Tk 15-20 for a trip from Oxygen in the city to Fatehpur when a human hauler takes Tk 6, he said.
Drivers of the human haulers say they refuse to go outside the city after evening because they did not get passengers during the return trip.
Golam Rasul Babul, general secretary of the Chittagong bus, minibus and human hauler owners association, recognised the situation and said they were looking into it.
Uttam Kumar Pal, additional deputy commissioner (traffic-north) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said they asked the owners' association to solve the issue soon. “If they do not, the route permit of the vehicles not following rules will be cancelled.”