People gather at the Kamalapur Railway Station in the city on Wednesday noon to return their pre-booked tickets due to the uncertainty stemming from the countrywide strike called by the Bangladesh Railway Running Employees Unity Council from the morning. However, shortly afterwards, the train services resumed — FE photo by KAZ Sumon Bangladesh Railway (BR) employees including drivers and guards went on a wildcat strike on Wednesday demanding a hike in their salaries and other allowances.
The strike that continued from 6:00 am to 1:30 pm caused immense suffering to the passengers, especially women and children, amid scorching heat during the ongoing month of Ramadan.
The BR employees had long been raising the demand for increasing their salaries and various types of allowances.
They later withdrew the work stoppage at noon following assurance of Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujon to consider their demand.
Sylhet-bound train Parabat Express left Kamalapur Railway Station at 1:35 pm ending seven and a half hours' suspension of train service.
An official at Kamalapur Railway Station told the FE that usually 72 trains move from here to other destinations of the country daily and they were compelled to cancel schedules of 18 trains of different routes following schedule collapse. He said other trains were operating normally.
Passengers of those 18 trains returned their tickets to the BR.
Despite getting back the money of their tickets, the passengers expressed frustration and disappointment for failing travel due to cancellation of the train schedules.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
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