Our Correspondent :
The owners and workers of public transport operating on different routes in Panchbibi upazila of Joypurhat are not abiding by the restrictions imposed by the government even though there are instructions to use public transport with limited number of passengers to keep the wheel of the country’s economy running. There have also been allegations of overcharging for carrying extra passengers.
To avoid corona infection, the government increased fares by 70 per cent with limited conditions for public transport with limited number of passengers.
As a result, when the public transport movement started, the passengers of Joypurhat-Panchbibi and Panchbibi-Hili routes were given an increased fare of Tk 25 instead of Tk 15. Passengers of Joypurhat-Panchbibi-Hilly Road have been violating the rule of placing one passenger in two seats without following the hygiene rules for the last one week.
But the rent was not reduced. The condition of passenger service in battery-powered easybikes, vans-rickshaws and CNG running on different routes of the upazila is the same. The driver and conductor are seen sitting with the passengers.
Anisur Rahman Liton, president of the Joypurhat Mini Bus Owners Association, said, “We have instructed the workers to abide by the health rules.” Sometimes I am also monitoring.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, president of Joypurhat Motor Workers Union, said some workers were taking advantage of the situation when passengers got up by force.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md. Barman Hossain said that the campaign will be launched soon due to non-compliance with hygiene rules in public transport.
