News Desk :
Owners and workers have called a transport strike from Friday over the rising prices of diesel and kerosene.
“We have decided to halt transport service across the country from tomorrow,” Rakesh Ghosh, assistant general secretary of the Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, said on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.
The government raised the prices of diesel and kerosene by Tk 15 to Tk 80 per litre on Wednesday, citing a hike in global prices.
Previously, the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation and Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Driver Union said they would go on indefinite strike from Friday if the decision to increase fuel prices was not reversed in 24 hours. The Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, had initially presented a proposal to increase fares, but later decided to go on strike.
“No vehicles will run after 6 am on Friday and this will continue indefinitely as the Owners and Workers Coordination Council announced a strike,” said Tajul Islam, vice president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation.
“All goods carriers will stop running from tomorrow for an indefinite time if the decision of fuel price increase isn’t withdrawn. This is a joint decision of the owners and workers,” said Talukdar Monir, president of Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van Driver Union.
Transport owners and workers claim they would not be able to run their business with the current fare system due to the hike in fuel prices.
“The authorities haven’t met our ten-point list of demands. They did increase the toll. But now they have increased the fuel price Tk 15 per litre. What else can we do? We have no other options,” said Tajul Islam.
Though there has been no government order, people have complained that many bus owners have already raised fares.
“The government must revert the decision to increase fuel prices or else they should increase the fare,” said Khandokar Enayet Ullah, general secretary of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association.
On Thursday, at least half of the buses in Dhaka refrained from hitting the roads as the owners cannot make a profit after buying diesel at the current price, said Manju Mollah, a bus owner.
