Transports back on roads
After 36 hours of chaos on roads, disruption in normal life and sufferings to people across the country, the transport workers withdrew their indefinite strike on Wednesday afternoon.
They withdrew the countrywide indefinite transport strike at about 3:30pm yesterday.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan held a meeting with transport workers’ leaders at BTRC Bhaban at Motijheel in the city yesterday afternoon and called upon them to return to their work and resume plying vehicles immediately.
“We’ve withdrawn our strike responding to the call of our leader Shajahan Khan and started plying our vehicles,” Bangladesh Inter-district Truck Drivers’ Union president Tajul Islam told journalists.
As soon as the strike was withdrawn, the plying of motor vehicles resumed giving the city a normal look from 4pm.
The long distance buses and coaches started rolling out of the city’s inter-district bus terminals of Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Sayedabad.
Besides, the long distance buses and coaches from north region including Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur, southwestern region including Khulna and Jessore, southeastern region including Chittagong and Sylhet zone also started departing towards various destinations including capital Dhaka yesterday evening.
As the strike continued till 4pm, the passengers underwent unbearable sufferings being stranded at the bus stands, terminals, roads and highways across the country.
Meanwhile, a series of clashes between transport workers and members of different law enforcement agencies left a driver dead and many injured in city. Besides, incidents of clashes, arson attacks, vandalism and explosions also took place in all metropolitan cities, district towns and roads and highways across the country.
Apart from these, transport workers took to the streets and put up barricades on roads and highways that halted traffic movement creating immense sufferings to the people.
They set ablaze a police box and a police wrecker and damaged a number of vehicles at Gabtoli in the capital.
Several policemen and workers suffered injuries in the clashes. Police picked up several workers from the places of occurrence.
Earlier in the afternoon the HC ordered the authorities concerned to bring normalcy in traffic movement within 24 hours upon a writ petition filed challenging legality of the countrywide transport strike.
“I have fervently called upon the transport owners and workers to start plying vehicles from now. I hope the traffic movement across the country will be normal,” Shajahan Khan told journalists in the briefing.
Earlier at 11 am, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Law Minister Anisul Huq, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Md. Moshiur Rahman Ranga held a meeting with leaders of transport owners’ association at secretariat.
After the meeting, Obaidul Quader, also general secretary of ruling Awami League, told newsmen that the transport owners’ association assured them of finding a way to end the transport strike by today considering sufferings of the people.
The countrywide strike was called in protest against the recent court verdicts awarding death sentence and life-term imprisonment to two drivers in two separate cases filed for killing a woman at Savar and five others including film director Tareque Masud and journalist Mishuk Munier in Manikganj.
“Legal actions will be taken against the people who were involved in torching a police wrecker and police box and damaging vehicles at Gabtali,” Home Minister Adaduzzaman Khan said while replying to a question of newsman after a function at Mirpur Police Staff College.
In capital Dhaka, Shah Alam, driver of Boishakhi Paribahan, was shot to death during clash with law enforcers in city’s Gabtoli area on Wednesday morning.
Dhaka Medical College police outpost SI Bacchu Miah said, Shah Alam was brought to the hospital around 11am where on-duty doctors declared him dead.
A number of transport workers were injured in a clash with police and members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Gabtoli Bus Terminal.
Witnesses said, the trouble began when some transport workers prevented some anti-strike workers from taking their vehicles out to the streets in the morning.
As the fight escalated, the law enforcers charged baton and dispersed the protesters, leaving some of them injured.
Minutes later, the workers regrouped and started hurling brick chips at the policemen and RAB members, triggering chases and counter-chases for several times.
Police threw tear gas shells and rubber bullets to control the situation. Then Shah Alam sustained bullet injury.