Water transport strike called off
Water transport workers have withdrawn their strike, which had paralysed freight transfer through inland waterways, after a fruitful meeting with Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday evening.
Shah Alam, president of the Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation, a platform of seven workers' organisations, told The Daily Star that the strike was called off as the minister has assured them of meeting their demands. The workers have subsequently been asked to resume operation by yesterday night.
The strike, which began on Saturday morning following reports on Friday night of seven missing workers after an ambush on a fertiliser-laden lighter vessel, left hundreds of thousands of tonnes of imported goods stuck at mid-sea.
The workers were firm on their demands, which include safety assurance during transit, search for missing workers, punitive actions for those responsible for Friday night's incident and elimination of scope for extortion in inland waterways.
It was decided at yesterday's meeting that efforts would be made to rescue the missing crew at the earliest, arrest the miscreants within seven days and dispatch round-the-clock patrol to crucial spots on the waterways, Alam said.
Furthermore, an inter-ministerial meeting would be held on November 12 in presence of shipping minister, home minister, representatives of workers' organisations and vessel owners to decide on permanent steps to ensure security in inland water routes.
Meanwhile, police yesterday recovered the body of the vessel's engine driver near Char Alexander around 8:00am.
Md Humayun Kabir, officer-in-charge of Kamalnagar police station, said the body, which bore several stab marks, was sent to Laxmipur General Hospital for autopsy.
Alam said a compensation of Tk 5 lakh has been demanded for his family at the meeting, which was attended by two factions of the Bangladesh Lighterage Workers' union. Khan told them that the issue would be finalised after discussion with prime minister.
On Sunday evening, a faction of the Bangladesh Lighterage Workers Union decided to postpone the strike until November 18 after a meeting with administration at the office of deputy inspector general of Chittagong range, Shafiqul Islam.
However, they retreated from their decision and resumed strike yesterday morning after reports of attacks on two more lighter vessels in Munshiganj channel hours after the strike was withdrawn.
Jahangir Alam, vice-president of the faction, said the two vessels were ambushed by robbers at Gajaria of Munshiganj channel, who beat up two workers and looted money, mobile phones and workers' belongings.
At least 651 cargo vessels across the country, including 21 large mother vessels in the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port, remained stranded with around 12 lakh tonnes of imported goods, as a result of the three-day strike.
The goods in the vessels mainly include wheat, lentils, salt, fertilisers and raw materials of industries like cement clinker and steel billets.
To compound logistical woes, three more mother vessels with over one lakh tonnes of fertilisers and cement clinkers arrived at the outer anchorage on Sunday night.
Owing to the strike, the importers were staring at additional charges for the vessels' overstaying beyond their permitted days.
For instance, TK Group had a mother vessel with 52,500 tonnes of wheat arriving on November 5; only 4,500 tonnes could be unloaded before the strike kicked in, said its Director for marketing and operations Tariq Ahmed.
The company also had seven lighter vessels and oil tankers with imported wheat and edible oil stranded at different waterways for the strike, he added.
BSM Group, a leading commodity importing firm, had ten lighter vessels with around 25,000 tonnes of wheat and lentil struck while on way to different docks after they were unloaded from the mother vessel, according to its Chairman Abul Bashar Chowdhury.
He said BSM will have to pay at least Tk 20,000 in fines for one of its lighter vessel overstaying.
Besides, there was a possibility that the goods might get damaged for failure to unload them on time, he said, adding that the delay was also hampering the commodity supply chain.
Meghna Group too had 24,000 tonnes of cement clinker stuck at a mother vessel that arrived on November 6 with 36,263 tonnes of clinker.
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