A 48-hour transport strike, enforced by the transport owners and workers in 21 southwestern districts under Khulna and Barisal divisions and greater Faridpur demanding withdrawal of two compensation suits against two bus service owners, is underway on Sunday. One of the cases is over the 2011 road crash on the Dhaka-Aricha highway that killed noted filmmaker Tareque Masud, media personality Mishuk Munier and three others. No long distance buses or other vehicles were seen plying the roads of the district after the strike started in the morning. Khulna Division Road Transport Owners-Workers’ Unity Council announced the programme at a press briefing at Jessore Press Club on Saturday morning. The strike is to press for withdrawal of the two cases-one filed against owner and driver of Chuadanga ‘Deluxe Paribahan’ claiming Tk12 crore compensation for the Dhaka-Aricha highway accident that killed five people, including Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier, and the other against ‘Green Line Paribahan’ claiming a Tk7 crore compensation over another accident. The strikers also demanded proper investigation into the two incidents. Earlier on May 8, transport owners and workers demanding withdrawal of the two cases threatened to enforce a 48-hour strike in 10 southern districts for May 15 and 16. Later the regional committees of the Barisal division and greater Faridpur units of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation joined the strike. The Faridpur unit of the Federation declared to stop plying of vehicles in the region from a press briefing at the district Press Club auditorium on Saturday. Jubayer Jakir, president of the committee, at the press briefing urged all transport workers to make the strike a success. –UNB, Dhaka.
