Transporters' leader Shajahan ready to quit cabinet ‘if it reduces accidents’

Transport workers’ leader Shajahan Khan has said he is ready to quit as shipping minister amid growing calls due to his stance over road traffic accidents if his resignation can stop crashes.

He, however, also thinks that his resignation will not be a solution to road accidents.

Minister Shajahan is executive president of the country’s largest transport workers’ organisation Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation.

He faces criticism all the time for leaping to the defence of the workers whenever a road accident occurs or the workers do something wrong.

In the latest developments, a North South University student died allegedly after being thrown to a canal in an injured state by a driver of a Hanif Paribahan bus and his two assistants in Munshiganj on July 21.   

On Sunday, a Jabale Noor bus ploughed through a group of college students waiting for transport on Airport Road in Dhaka, killing two on the spot and injuring several others.

Facing questions, Shajahan initially said the transport workers responsible for the students’ deaths will be punished as per law, but his promise failed to soothe protesters who blocked the Airport Road on Monday again and netizens flooded the social media with angry reactions.

On Monday, he told reporters at the Secretariat, “Many demand my resignation whenever any accident happens. I have no problem to leave if it will solve the problem.”

“But will the problem really be solved if I resign?” the minister asked.

He claimed the frequency of road accidents has reduced through initiatives taken under his leadership during the Awami League government.

Neither the owners nor the workers will protest if those responsible for ‘heartbreaking and unfortunate’ accidents face tough punishment, Shajahan said.

“Wait and see what we do,” he said.

Enraged students from Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College vandalise a bus after two students from the same institution died in a bus accident on Airport Road on Sunday. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

In reaction to media reports that his brother-in-law is one of the owners of Jabale Noor Paribahan, a bus of which crushed the students in Dhaka, the minister said he was not sure whether it was correct because many of his relatives are involved in transport business.

He said the transport owners and workers’ groups would sit on Tuesday to discuss the situation.

“We want to give the drivers a message through the meeting,” he said.