Transport workers end blockade in Narayanganj, traffic resumes

Transport workers have ended an eight-hour long blockade on the streets of Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj in protest at the new road transport act.

Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet highways resumed around 2pm on Wednesday after the workers cleared the roads, said Monirul Islam, additional superintendent of Narayanganj Police Station.

However, truck and covered-van operators are continuing their strike. But long-haul bus services are yet to resume in many areas, according to transport owners and workers’ leaders.

Protesters carried out a procession at the Siddhirganj’s Signboard area around 7pm on Monday, blocking the road and traffic movement, according to some locals.

The protesters signalled vehicles to stop and seized keys from drivers, forcing passengers to get off the buses. They blocked the road by parking those vehicles on the roads.

The flow of traffic resumed again in the afternoon after police convinced the protesters to leave the streets, Monirul said.

Transport workers are protesting the harsher punishments for traffic offences under the new road transport law. But none of the workers took part in the blockade at Signboard road, said Shafi Uddin Pradhan, general secretary of the Bangladesh Truck-Covered-Van Owners’ Association’s Narayanganj wing.

‘We have no link to the protests. The workers are 'willingly' refraining from work,” Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation’s Vice President Kawsar Ahmed Polash said.