Gulam Rabbani :
The government imposed restrictions to tackle the infections of the new variant of the novel Coronavirus which throw the transport workers in a new shape of crisis. Around 70 lakh transport workers have become jobless following the restrictions.
Transport workers’ leaders take extortion from the workers in different ways. Sources said, transport owners’ associations and workers’ unions earn about Tk 4000 crore by extortion in a year. Even then the transport leaders did not stand by the workers during the Coronavirus pandemic situation.
The government announced incentives for transport, hotels and construction workers last year. But about 98 percent of the transport sector workers were deprived of the government incentives as they didn’t have appointment letter.
Only a small part of them got rice and pulses from the local upazilas and union parisads by showing their national identity cards. But there is no assurance of any such help this year.
Khandaker Enayetullah, Secretary of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owner Associations, said, “The government is planning to impose a full lockdown from April 14 next. We will try out best to give aid to our workers. No one will be left out of our relief work.”
Mukhlesur Rahman, Organizing Secretary of the Bangldesh Road Transport Workers Federation, said they had distributed money among the workers last year and they will distribute this year too. No extortion is taking place in this case, added the leader.
The government on March 29 this year imposed a new set of restrictions, including a ban on all public gatherings in areas with high rate of infections for next two weeks to control the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic and its transmission.
Later the government suspended the operation of all public transport across the country since April 5. But in the wake of commuters’ sufferings, the government allowed public transports to resume their operations since April 7 in Dhaka, Chattogram, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Cuomilla, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur and Mymensingh city corporation areas from 6.00am to 6.00pm every day.
Though the city buses were given permission to resume their services on a limited scale, the operations of the inter-district buses are still stopped. In the meantime, the government has announced that it is going to impose a full phase lockdown from April 14 this year. This announcement is making the transport workers to think anew.
