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Transport Strike

City paralysed by snarl-up

Staff Correspondent
Traffic congestion coupled with a transport strike yesterday made the city dwellers suffer heavily.
Commuters could hardly find any transport on the roads on the one hand due to the countrywide strike and on the other, almost all the city streets were clogged with rickshaws. Public buses remained off the city streets yesterday, much to the sufferings of the masses dur-ingRamadan.
Traffic personnel yesterday allowed, rickshaws to ply even the
roads that are usually out of bounds to the manually pulled three-wheelers, which only added to the misery.
The traffic police let their guard down apparently because of the transport strike. At many intersections in the capital they showed their indifference to attending to their duties, alleged some commuters.
Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation (BRTWF) enforced the 24-hour strike to protest the death of a Rangpur-based transport leader allegedly in Rab custody. •
The number of rickshaws increased sharply as rickshawpullers from other parts of the country swarmed the capital to make some quick bucks ahead of Eid.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), however, claimed continuing with its drive to get unauthorised rickshaws off the city.
"Police have seized a good number of rickshaws but the number of unauthorised rickshaws has been on the increase before Eid," a traffic department official seekinganonymity toldThe Daily Star.
Some taxicabs, three-wheelers and government-owned BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) buses plied the city streets, but they proved too few for the commuters, said a resident while re turning home on foot
Hundreds of people waited for taxi or three-wheelers for hours on end at city suburbs such as Uttara and Mirpur. Many could not go to office or shopping and returned home finding no transports.
Not everybody suffered from the transport strike. To the rickshawpullers, yesterday came as a blessing. In the absence of public transports, they charged twice the normal.
"Usually, I pull rickshaw only in residential areas of Mirpur. But today is an exception, it is a great opportunity for me to earn some extra money as rickshaws are allowed on the Mirpur Road," saidTota Mia, a rick-shaw-puller. "I have reached Nilkhet from Shyamoli after travelling by rickshaw for an hour and half," said Rahim, a shopkeeper.
"Transport owners could have deferred the strike until the Ramadan is over, "he sulked.
Office-goers, students and shoppers were the worst hit by the strike. For many, it was absolutely impossible to reach office in time.
"I was supposed to reach Motijheel by 9:00am, but I am already late by an hour and still not sure how long it will take to be there," said Mahbubur Rahman.
"Normally, it costs meTk 15 to go to the campus from Shantinagar by rickshaw. But today I had to pay Tk 40," said Manwar, a Dhaka University student.
Yesterday’s strike affected academic activities of Dhaka University as well. Only a handful of students could come to the campus after a long walk or journey by rickshaws. Besides, fearing untoward incident, university buses preferred not to run yesterday.
Leaders of BRTWF, meanwhile, threatened to go for a tougher movement after Eid if the government did not meet the six-point demand including punishment to the culprits who killed transport leader Abul Kalam Azad in Rangpur and withdrawal of the decision to remove 10-year-old buses from Dhaka City.
The leaders also urged the government to release people who were arrested during the strike. They also thanked people for making the transport strike a success.
Communications Minister Nazmul Huda told the BBC Bangia Service last night that the government docs not think it is necessary to hold discussions with the transport owners, as the strike was called 'unnecessarily1.
On death of a transport leader allegedly in Rab custody, he said it is yet to be proved that Rab was responsible for the death.
He claimed that the strike could not hamper the public life that much, as other alternative buses were available on the roads.