Transport strike at several places

Long distance bus services in various districts have remained suspended ahead of 18-Party’s Saturday rally and Hifazat-e Islam’s ‘Dhaka besiege’ programme on Sunday.

Both BNP and Hifazat alleged that the suspension of transport services was prompted by the government to foil their agitations.

bdnews24.com’s Benapole correspondent says no long distance buses from the bordering town were operating from Saturday morning leaving hundreds of people, who came from India, stranded.

Many of the passengers from India were seen hiring microbuses to reach their destinations.

People manning bus counters alleged the operations had been suspended following orders from the bus owners.

Bagerhat correspondent said the transport strike in the area was on for the second consecutive day.

The strike has been imposed by eight associations of transport owners and workers demanding banning plying of all illegal three-wheelers on the highways.

Khan Monir Hossain, General Secretary of Inter-District Road Transport Owners’ Association of Bagerhat, told bdnews24.com they were forced to call the strike as their demands were not fulfilled despite repeated assurances from the administration.

The district’s Acting Superintendent of Police Pankaj Chandra Roy said initiatives were taken to hold parleys with the strikers to resume the bus services.

In Sirajganj bus services were grounded for the second day following a dispute between transport owners of Sirajganj and Tangail, bdnews24.com Correspondent reported.

Confronting parties are expected to sit for talks at the district’s SP office at noon to resolve the impasse.

The associations representing transport owners and workers of Sirajganj and Tangail are in a tug of war over operation of bus services on the Sirajganj-Rajshahi and Tangail-Rajshahi routes. Supporters of the two groups clashed on last Wednesday in Rajshahi.

Later, the Tangail bus owners stopped the Dhaka-bound buses from Siranganj prompting their rivals to call the strike.