Transport strike from Sunday

The bus and coach owners’ association of southern Bangladesh has announced an indefinite transport strike starting from Sunday in protest against vandalism and the torching of their vehicles. Association President Md Alamgir Molla has said that buses and minibuses would not run on the Dhaka-Khulna-Barisal, Dhaka-Mawa, Dhaka-Munshiganj and Dhaka-Dohar routes from tomorrow. He said road accidents invariably lead to the smashing and torching of vehicles or extortion of ransom for the release of seized buses on routes leading to south from Dhaka. ‘This has made transport a risky business.’ Two people were killed on Aug 4 after their motorcycle collided with a ‘Meghna Paribahan’ bus at Bejgaon on Dhaka-Mawa highway. Following the accident, agitated locals had burnt several buses and damaged around 50 other vehicles. Alamgir Molla said no Meghna Paribahan buses were running on the route since then, leaving at least 150 workers of 30 buses jobless, according to bdnews24.com.