Countrywide transport strike underway

A countrywide 48-hour transport strike, enforced by the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, is underway since Sunday morning causing immense suffering to the people.

No inter-district buses have left Gabtoli, Mohakhali, or Sayedabad terminals in the capital since the morning. 

Many people are walking or travelling by rickshaw to reach their destinations-sometimes paying double or triple the cost of the usual fare.

The state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Commission (BRTC) bus service is the only public transportation option available throughout the city.

The transport workers, on Saturday, declared they would abstain from work from 6am Sunday to 6am Tuesday to press home their eight-point demand.

Their demands include making all offences by road accident “bailable,” cancelling the provision of a Tk5 lakh fine for involvement in a road accident, keeping a representative of their federation in any probe body formed about a road accident, setting a minimum educational qualification of class-V to obtain a driver’s licence, and stopping police harassment on the roads.