People suffer amid strike
Commuters faced immense sufferings as transport workers across the country went on a 48-hour work abstention on Sunday to press home their eight point-demand, reports UNB.
Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation on Saturday announced the work abstention programme from 6:00am on Sunday to 6:00am on Tuesday.
In the capital, no public transport, except some CNG-run auto-rickshaws and rickshaws, were seen plying roads with a large number of commuters waiting on roads for transport to reach their destinations.
Public transports, including buses, minibuses and human-haulers stayed off the roads since morning in response to the strike, leaving the city dwellers, including office-goers and students, in disarray.
No inter-district buses left Gabtoli, Mohakhali or Sayedabad terminals in the morning.
CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers and rickshaw-pullers were demanding excessive fares taking advantage of the situation, alleged commuters.
Many people were seen moving on foot or travelling by rickshaw to reach their destinations -- sometimes paying double or triple the fare of the usual one.
The government-run Bangladesh Road Transport Commission (BRTC) bus service was the only public transport option available throughout the city.
Traffic inspector Asad in the capital's Abdullahpur said there has been no public transport on the roads since morning. The number of private vehicles is also limited. People are travelling on rickshaws to reach their destinations.
Basu Deb, who works at a private company and resides in Mirpur's Purobi area, said he had to wait on the road for a public bus from 6:00am to go to Motijheel, but there was no vehicle on the road.
"Later, I had to hire a rickshaw," he added.
UNB correspondents from different districts reported that no long-route buses left their respective bus stands following the strike.
The demands of the transport workers include making all the offences by road accident 'bailable', cancellation of the provision of fining Tk 500,000 for involvement in a road accident, keeping a representative from their federation in any probe body formed for road accident, fixing minimum educational qualification for getting driving licence to class-V, and stopping police harassment on roads.
Earlier on 12 October, the workers' association decided to stage demonstrations by going on a two-day work abstention from 28 October to press home their eight-point demand that included amendments to the Road Transport Act, if their demands are not met by 27 October.