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Robbery, harassment rampant on highway

Businesses worried as truckers stop transporting rods from Chittagong to Dhaka

Staff Correspondent
Owners of rod-carrying trucks in Chittagong went on an indefinite strike from yesterday demanding an end to frequent robbery of goods vehicles on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
Businessmen said the incidents of robbery and subsequent strike might affect the supply of rods out of the port city, causing a price spiral of the construction material in other parts of the country.
They said transport of other goods, including export items and imported food items, might also be affected if the government failed to stop the robbery of goods vehicles on highways.
It will also dent Bangladesh's image abroad, they said.
"We have been appealing to the government to take necessary steps to stop robbery on highways. But it is still going on. What is happening now is an outburst
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of anger," said AK Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
"Businessmen are frustrated over repeated hijacking and robbery of vehicles carrying goods that include export items. Buyers don't feel safe."
He warned that the FBCCI would announce agitation programmes if the government did not address this problem immediately.
At least three truck drivers were killed and seven helpers seriously injured when robbers looted 15 rodcarrying trucks on highways in the last two months, said Mohammed Abu Mozaffar, general secretary of Bangladesh Truck Covered-Van Ponno Paribahan Malik Samity that went on an indefinite strike in the port city yesterday.
"No rod-carrying truck left Chittagong today [yes-terdayl. We will continue the strike until the government takes an effective step."
He said the situation had worsened in the last six months as nearly 25 vehicles were robbed on the highway.
However, Asaduzzaman Mia, deputy inspector general of Dhaka range, claimed the number of robberies of goods vehicles had dropped on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in the last few months.
He said the authorities had found that truck drivers and helpers were involved in more than half of the robberies.
Businessmen and transporters said police had arrested robbers and hijackers of goods vehicles in the past but they eventually got released because of loopholes in the law.
Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, first vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said incidents of robbery of construction materials and export items on highways are frequent.
"This is happening year after year because measures to ensure the safe movement of goods trucks do not exist. But police are there to provide security," he said.
Chowdhury said such incidents were harming the country's image as well as the export-oriented sector.
Fazlur Rahman Bakul, chairman of Bangladesh Steel Mills Owners Association, said the strike would affect production in many steel mills outside Chittagong.
"Most of our raw materials are brought from Chittagong. The strike will definitely disrupt our production cycle. Many steel mills will have to stop production."
He said businessmen had talked with the home minister and police many times about the robbery on high-
ways but nothing had happened by way of action.
One of Bakul's rodcarrying trucks was hijacked seven months ago but police are yet to recover it.
Mir Nasir Hossain, managing director of the construction company Mir Akhter Hossain Ltd, said the strike would disrupt rod supply from Chittagong to other areas causing a price hike of the construction material.
Disruption in rod supply may hamper construction work in both public and private sectors, said Hossain, who is also a former FBCCI president.
Truck owners say nearly 250-300 vehicles carry about 9,000 tonnes of rod through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway every day.
Mahbubul Alam, senior vice president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said rod-carrying trucks had been the main target of robbers.
"Trucks are hijacked or rods are looted after the vehicles cross Comilla on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. It causes loss to both truck and mill owners. Police should escort goods trucks in order to reduce robberies on the highway."
"If transport of goods by road gets suspended, it will have a huge impact on the supply chain."
About 80 percent of imported food items are transported by road from Chittagong, and any disruption in the supply chain will impact their prices, said Alam, president of Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Transport Agency Malik Sramik Oikya Parishad announced a 48-hour token strike from Wednesday to press home its 14-point demands that include an end to extortion and police harassment on highways.
Rustom Ali, convener of the association, said at a press conference in the capital that the association had appealed several times to the government to address the problems on the highways but it did not pay heed to their demands.
"Now, we have no alternative but to go on strike."
He said the sector faced many problems such as harassment and extortion by police, robbery, mugging and non-renewal of driving licence.
Rustom questioned the role of the highway police, saying robbery and mugging on highways had become frequent.
"The highway police are supposed to protect us, but they are doing just the opposite."
He also criticised the police for harassing transport owners in the name of vehicle requisition.