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Published : 20 May 2024, 01:51 PM
The Rickshaw, Battery Rickshaw, Van and Easy Bike Sangram Parishad has threatened to escalate into harsh protest programmes unless the ban on battery-run three-wheelers in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area is withdrawn.
The organisation’s Convener Khalekuzzaman Ripon gave the warning on Monday at a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
“We want to be clear – the Dhaka city corporations, the BRTA, and the Road Ministry should withdraw the unfair decision they have made. This unjust decision must be scrapped.”
“Our message to the government is this – we call on you to withdraw this decision within a month. It only took you an hour to decide on it. We will give you more than an hour… take an entire month. Our protests will continue. On May 27, we are announcing rallies in 64 districts across the country in solidarity with the workers in Dhaka.”
He also called on drivers, owners, and passengers to form separate protest organisations on Dhaka’s streets and engage in protests in their own areas.
“We will move to stricter programmes in the future if the government does not withdraw its decision within the time we have given,” Ripon said. “An intense movement will take to the streets with hundreds of thousands of unemployed drivers and others concerned with it.”
He called for the support of the crowd for the announced protest and received a hearty response.
Then, addressing the crowd, he said, “The traffic box set on fire in Kalshi yesterday is not a solution. It is not the right thing to do. March in the streets, but do it peacefully… I don’t know who did it. I say, do not be involved with such misdeeds.”
“We will continue our struggle in a peaceful, democratic manner.”
The rally condemned the seizing of rickshaws, removal of batteries, dumping, the harassment of drivers and owners in Mirpur, Lalbag, Gendaria, Shyampur and other locations in the capital as well as the attack by police in Mirpur.
The convener pushed for a list of seven demands, including the removal of the ban on three-wheelers, the registration of battery-run vehicles, and route permits and licences for the vehicles.
