Rickshaw pullers threaten hartal Jan 2

Our Correspondent CHITTAGONG, December 29: City's rickshaw pullers and owners have today threatened to enforce hartal in the city on January 2 if the administration suspends movement of rickshaws between Bahaddarhat and Barik Building, the main thoroughfare, from January 1, 2012. They formed a human chain in the city under the banner of Rickshaw Pullers and Owners Coordination Action Council at 12 noon and announced the programme of a general strike at a rally in front of Sholashahar Rail Gate No. 2. Recently the local administration officials from Chittagong district administration, City Corporation, metropolitan police and concerned trade bodies and non-government organizations in a meeting decided to suspend movement of pedalled three-wheelers on the main thoroughfare to avoid traffic jam on all working days of the week because the slow-moving rickshaws on the city's busiest road connecting city's entry point with the business hub and port area create the congestion, they opined. Meanwhile, the association also demanded implementation of their eight-point demand stating that rickshaw-plying cannot be suspended until the authority constructs separate rickshaw lane on the Bahaddarhat-Barik Building CDA Avenue. They urged the government to reduce taxes on spare parts of rickshaws, stop rickshaw stealing, issuance of licenses for further number of 33,000 rickshaws in the city and save them from police harassment. Presided over by MA Kader, president of the association, the protest meeting was addressed, among others, by BNP leader and divisional president of Jatiyatabadi Shramik Dal AM Nazimuddin, organizing secretary of the Shramik Dal Anwar Hossain, pro-government Shramik League leader Shafar Ali, Bandar Shramik Dal leader Sheikh Nurullah and Nazrul Islam Sarkar.