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Truckers' strike to hurt supply chain

Lorries feeding Dhaka stay put in districts; workers of other divisions join work abstention

Staff Correspondent
Supply of perishable and other goods to the capital is likely to suffer further disruptions as truck owners and drivers vowed to continue their work abstention that started yesterday.
"We are yet to receive any response from the authorities. So, our programme [strike] will continue," Tajul Islam, member secre-
tary of Bangladesh Goods Transport Owners Workers United Council, told The Daily Star last night.
Although the council on Saturday announced that truck owners and transport workers would abstain from work in Dhaka division only, truckers in many districts expressed solidarity and joined the strike to press home their seven-point demand, FROM PAGE 1
including changes to the Road Transport Act-2018.
Shafiqul Islam, general secretary of Naogaon District Truck Tank Lorry Covered Van Workers Union, said no trucks left for Dhaka yesterday, adding that between 500 and 600 trucks leave
for Dhaka and Chittagong every day.
Anwar Hossain Anu, organising secretary of the union in Narayanganj, also said truckers did not work. Over 1,000 trucks leave the district with industrial goods everyday, he added.
In Bogura, half the truckers did not work, Abdul Mannan Mandol, presi-
dent of Inter-district Truck Workers Union in the district, said, adding that they were not formally observing the work abstention.
Many are concerned by this as most of the food for Dhaka dwellers come from other districts. No goods-laden truck left Dhaka from 6:00am yesterday.
Asked whether it could affect supply chains, Tajul said, "Yes. There will be some impact."
Yesterday, some transport workers in Dhaka checked documents of trucks and drivers and forcibly rubbed used engine oil on the faces of drivers who could not produce licence.
Those who showed their licences were forced to join their work abstention, victims and witnesses said.
Md Sajib said he was on his way to Jatrabari from Keraniganj with his pickup truck. When he reached Dolaipar area, some people identifying themselves as transport workers stopped him and asked for his documents.
"I thought they would take my licence away. So, I said I have no licence. They dragged me out of the pickup and rubbed black oil on my face," he said. They did the same to many other drivers, he added.
Visiting the country's largest wholesale kitchen market, The Daily Star z correspondent found that a good X number of trucks carrying vegetables o from different parts of the country arrived around 12:15am today.
g Some of the drivers said they came | to Dhaka unaware of the strike. We did o not face any obstacle except in Gabtoli o by a group of transport workers. Some " tried to assault us while some hit thetrucks with sticks," said Bikash who arrived from Chuadanga.
Some wholesalers said they ordered less goods fearing they would not arrive
at all.
"PROTESTTO CONTINUE"
Several hundred truck drivers and their assistants kept Beribandh road at Tin Rastar Mor blocked for hours after 7:00am, said Jamal Uddin Mir, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station in the capital.
Truckers also blocked Dhaka-Aricha highway at Aminbazar for almost two hours in the morning, causing a tailback, police said.
Transport workers in the capital's Dayaganj tried to obstruct traffic for a while but police cleared the road, officers said.
Convener of Bangladesh Goods Transport Owners Workers United Council Mokbul Ahmed said the work abstention was in protest of the transport act and police harassment on highways.
He added that transport leaders voiced their concern after the cabinet passed the draft bill, but the authorities did not pay any heed.
"So we will continue our programme until our demands are met. It's very easy for the government to amend the law," he said, adding, "If our demands are not met, the agitation may spread."
WHAT LED TO THIS
Parliament on September 19 passed the much-anticipated Road Transport Act-2018 amid criticism over lenient punishments for deaths caused by reckless driving.
According to the new law, if anybody causes an accident by reckless and negligent driving, and kills or injures someone seriously, they would face a maximum of five years imprisonment or a fine ofTk 5 lakh or both.
However, if it is found that a driver had deliberately killed anyone or not averted a fatal accident, the incident will be judged under either section 302 (murder) or 304 (culpable homicide) of the Penal Code, the law minister said.
The maximum punishment under section 302 of the Penal Code is death penalty while it is life imprisonment under section 304.
Truck owners and drivers said they would not accept death penalty as drivers don't drive to kill people.
Other demands include unconditional release of all staffers arrested in connection with crashes; issuing proper drivers' licence to all drivers of heavy vehicles, and allowing them to drive trucks with light vehicles' driving licence until they are issued licence to drive heavy vehicles; ending police harassment; setting up truck terminals and stands at suitable locations with necessary facilities.
The government has already relaxed until December 31 the experience requirement for getting licences to drive medium and heavy vehicles.
There are more than 2 lakh heavy vehicles in the country. But the BRTA has so far issued 1.38 lakh licences for driving such vehicles.