NN Online Report: A cleaner of Dhaka North City Corporation was killed after a pick-up truck hit her near the Gabtoli bus terminal early today.
After the accident, around 1,500 DNCC cleaners blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway in protest.
Amena Begum, 45, was walking on the Gabtoli-Dwipnagar-Mohammadpur road on her way to work around 5:45am when she was hit by the pick-up, said DMP Assistant Commissioner Mofizur Rahman Palash.
Quoting eyewitnesses, the police official said Amena was killed on the spot when a recklessly speeding pick-up truck hit her while she was climbing the slope of the road.
“The truck was moving towards the Dhaka-Aricha highway. Driving at an erratic speed on the pothole-filled, under-construction road, the driver swerved towards the footpath to avoid a large hole and hit Amena, sending her flying into the ditch below.”
The truck was seized and its driver was arrested, he added.
Around 1,500 cleaners of DNCC blocked the highway immediately after the accident, creating a long queue of vehicles on both sides of the road. Senior police officials of Mirpur Division were present at the scene and brought the situation under control, but the cleaners said they would continue the blockade until their demands, including risk allowance, were met.
Two additional platoons of police were deployed at Gabtoli Tinrasta to avoid any untoward incident.
At the time this report was filed at 9:30am, DNCC Chief Waste Management Officer and Captain Mohammad Fida Hasan came to the spot and assured to take steps to implement the demands of the cleaners. The situation is calm now and traffic movement has resumed.
The process of taking appropriate legal action in this regard is underway at Darus Salam Police Station, Mofizur Rahman Palash added.
