C'nawabganj Bus Strike Continues
Sufferings of passengers mount
Getting no motor vehicle, passengers start for their destination on a rickshaw van in Chapainawabganj town on the second day of the transport strike yesterday. The strike was called to protest the torture on a leader of transport workers on Monday. Photo: STAR
The indefinite strike enforced by the bus workers here on Monday continued yesterday, much to the sufferings of the passengers and traders. The strike followed a clash between labourers of Chapainawabganj and Rajshahi districts in the early hours of Monday. Bus services to and from Chapainawabganj came to a halt and the ticket counters remained closed from Monday. Truck and tank lorries are also off the town streets. Passengers frantically looking for transports at different bus terminals failed to avail any yesterday. Trucks with goods imported from India remained stranded at the warehouse of Sonamasjid land port due to the strike, said Ekramul Haque, secretary of the port's C and F agents association. Several imported items like mango, tomato and green chilli would perish if the strike continues further, he said. Mango traders of Chapainawabganj are also facing huge losses due to the transport strike. Raju Ahmed, a mango trader of Puraton Bazar in the town said his one hundred baskets of mango have already damaged due to the strike. "I will incur a loss of Tk 1.75 lakh", he said. The bus workers yesterday barricaded different roads of the town by burning tyres. Police could not resist the labourers from halting and damaging vehicles. Bus workers and police said, drivers of a coach and a truck had an altercation at Biswa Road intersection early Monday. At on stage, a few labourers of Chapainawabganj assaulted coach driver Saiful of Rajshahi. When the leaders of Rajshahi Motor Sramik Union came to Chapainawabganj to settle the matter, some members of Chapainawabganj Truck and Motor Labourers' Union assaulted them. At this, labourers of Rajshahi Motor Sramik Union beat up truck drivers Enamul and Rakib of Chapainawabganj in Rajshahi city. Later, labourers of Rajshahi also picked up Abdul Khalek, a labour leader of Chapainawabganj and assaulted him, triggering an indefinite strike. Chapainawabganj bus workers said they would continue the strike till the culprits who beat up their leader are brought to justice. Meanwhile, a tripartite meeting held at the deputy commissioners office to settle the matter yesterday, ended without any positive result.
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