Metro rail services halted due to workers’ strike, passengers suffer
Metro rail operations in Dhaka remain suspended today, Friday, due to a full-scale work abstention by employees. According to the scheduled timetable, trains were meant to depart Uttara at 3:00 pm and Motijheel at 3:20 pm, but none of the trains left the stations. As a result, passengers are facing severe inconvenience.
Around 3:45 pm, Al Amin Sajib, who was travelling from Shewrapara to Karwan Bazar, found himself stranded without metro service. Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said that when he reached the Shewrapara station around 3:45 pm, he saw the collapsible gate on the staircase locked.
Hundreds of people were waiting outside the station, with many more standing on the road, he said. However, there were hardly any vehicles available. Unable to get on a bus, CNG or an app-based motorcycle, the man eventually managed to reach Karwan Bazar by rickshaw, paying a higher fare.
A section of regular officers and staff of the organisation had announced an all-out work abstention from 7:00 am today in protest of what they described as a breach of the promise to introduce an independent employment policy. This raised concerns of disruption to metro rail services.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), responsible for the construction and operation of Dhaka’s metro rail, had announced on Thursday night that services would operate normally on Friday according to schedule. However, the protesting workers ignored this directive.
Zahidul Islam, the official responsible for public relations at DMTCL, told Prothom Alo that after assurances from the authorities, the workers’ demands were already in the process of being met with some procedural issues remaining. “Despite this, passenger services have been suspended. The government is now reviewing the situation,” he said.
According to DMTCL sources, the protesting workers staged a sit-in in front of the metro rail’s head office in Diabari area of Uttara on Thursday to press home their demands. They chanted various slogans there.
At the time, the authorities stated that the independent employment regulations would be placed for approval at a special board meeting on 18 December. With this, the workers’ demands would effectively be met, leaving no logical reason to continue the protest. They were instructed to resume duties from Friday. Most protesters agreed, though some insisted that the regulations must be approved by Friday.
However, in a statement issued by the protesters Thursday night, they said that their demanded employment regulations had not been approved by 11 December. For this reason, they declared an indefinite strike from Friday, during which no passenger services would be provided. From the morning, they would stage a sit-in before the DMTCL head office.
DMTCL sources say that the protesters have been positioned at Diabari since morning. Despite it being a holiday, the DMTCL managing director and other officials remained at the office to negotiate with them. But the protesters demanded immediate approval of the regulations.
The authorities are viewing the suspension of passenger services with seriousness and are considering stern action against the protesters. The government had already announced that once the schedule for the 13th national parliamentary election is declared, no protests or demonstrations over demands will be allowed on the streets, and strict action will be taken in such cases.