Transport owners on Sunday halted traffic on the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar route, protesting attack on transport workers. Due to the sudden strike, the commuters suffered much on the route. As a result, all buses of South Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar were halted.
Workers began their protest near the Notun Bridge area in Chattogram in the morning, stopping vehicles from entering or leaving the city.
The passengers expressed their dissatisfaction for such demonstration without any prior notice. They had immense sufferings on the first day of the week. some of them were seen moving towards their destinations on foot. Some others were seen hiring three wheelers, motorcycles, battery-run rickshaw to go to their destinations. Passengers had to count an extra amount of money to reach their destinations.
The workers said that they went on strike as transport leader Musa and his cohorts attacked the real transport workers and beat up a driver for protesting the extortion from the transports. They came out on the streets to protest the incident.
The agitated workers alleged that Secretary Musa like autocrat Hasina has deprived us. A local bus needs to pay Tk 1,680 extortion to reach to Cox’s Bazar from Chattogram. Like the MPs and Ministers of Awami League, they are taking extortion in the name of different organisations. They attack us when we protest that. The main objective of our protest is to stop extortion in the name of transport organisations. The transport workers should not be attacked. The security of the workers of this sector needs to be ensured.
A coordinator of Arakan Sarak Paribahan Sramik Union, said that secretary Musa and others have been sucking their blood for the last 17 years without elections. We won’t let it happen anymore. In the last 17 years, 8,000 workers left this profession due to their oppression. We don't want this dictatorship anymore.
The presence of army was seen to negotiate with the workers and bring the situation under control. Leaders of some transport organization also tried to negotiate with the transport workers.
