Transport workers' leader Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan says he is sorry about the plight of the people due to a strike by the workers against conviction of two drivers for road accidents.
Published : 01 Mar 2017, 07:10 PM
He says the situation 'went out of hand' when the news of the second verdict sentencing a driver to death for running over and killing a woman in Savar spread amid discussions with the protesting workers.
Shajahan, the executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers' Federation, the apex platform of all the transport workers' organisations, said on Wednesday they would move for a 'legal solution' to the problem over the 'demand' of the workers.
The workers' leader also said the government 'assured' the workers of 'cooperation'.
He spoke about the 'assurance' after meeting the representatives of transport owners and workers at Motijheel in the afternoon following a meeting with Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader and Law Minister Anisul Huq in the morning.
The situation started to normalise when the shipping minister urged the transport owners and workers to resume services at a press conference.
State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Moshiur Rahman Ranga, who also heads the Bangladesh Road Transport Association of bus and truck owners, was present at the media call.
Shajahan said the strike was not an organisational decision and the workers took upon themselves to stay off the road.
"Naturally the halt to transportation has caused severe public sufferings. We are sincerely sorry for the unwanted situation," he said.
Transport workers in Chuadanga launched the strike last week after a bus driver was sentenced to life in prison for the road traffic accident that left filmmaker Tareque Masud, ATN News CEO Mishuk Munier and three others dead.
The strike spread to 10 other districts in Khulna Division on Sunday and to all over the country in Tuesday morning following the sentencing of a truck driver for running over and killing a woman.
Road communication virtually came to a halt in Bangladesh due to the strike. Traveller suffered while businesses also counted losses.
The strike, which spread to Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon, continued on Wednesday. The transport workers at many places in the country, including the capital, obstructed private transports and blocked roads.
The protesters also clashed with police in Gabtoli, one of the main accesses to the capital.
Reading out a written statement, Shajahan Khan told journalists that 'confusions among the people were created over the current standoff' and that the owners and the workers needed to make their statement clear.
"Road transport owners and workers are not beyond the law. We are respectful to the law. You know that we issued a statement expressing sincere regret after distinguished personalities Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier were killed in a road traffic accident on the highway in Manikganj on Aug 13, 2011," he said.
"We want to say again today that deaths in road traffic accident are undesirable to all, including us," he added.
The shipping minister said the news of the verdict over the death of a woman in Savar came after a meeting the authorities held with the striking workers and owners in Khulna on Monday.
The authorities first announced in that day that the workers agreed to withdraw the strike, a claim later denied by the protesters.
"The news (of the Savar accident verdict) spread fast across the country. Owners and workers' leaders from different districts were informing us about the suspension of services. The situation went beyond our control at the time. The decision to resume services was foiled," Shajahan said.
Bangla daily Prothom Alo said in a report on Wednesday that the organisations of transport owners and workers "adopted a strategy to have the verdicts changed by holding the travellers hostage".
The report claimed the decision to implement the strategy was taken in the house of a minister. It also claimed a minister, a state minister and leaders of pro-government organisations of transport owners and workers were directly involved in it.
According to the Prothom Alo report, around 50 people, including State Minister Ranga, took part in the meeting at Shajahan's house.
In reaction to the report, the minister said, "I've already said in the written statement that the meeting on Feb 27 was called for a solution, not for the strike."
Regretting the public sufferings once again, Khan said, 'some quarters' were trying to put the people and the transporters against each other by issuing 'misleading and provocative' statements.
He also said the transport workers were 'feeling insecure' as they are concerned that they may be sentenced to death or life in prison for road traffic accidents.
He expressed concern that the High Court verdicts in two other cases seeking Tk 320 million compensation for accidents related to Chuadanga Deluxe and Green Line buses would go against the transporters.
He urged all to realise the problems of transport owners and workers and find solutions to those.
About the meeting with Quader and Huq, he said, "The ministers have realised the problems of the transport owners and workers. They have assured us of all possible legal cooperation in the current situation."
"I am urging the owners and workers to end the strike. I hope the situation will now get back to normal," he added.