The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity on Monday alleged that bus owners' failure to honour pledges against overcharging during Eid-ul-Azha has forced low-income workers onto unsafe vehicles, triggering a string of deadly road accidents.

In a statement, the organisation's Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury alleged that the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners' Association had promised not to charge excess fares ahead of the upcoming Eid, but their district and unit-level branches have since broken that commitment across numerous routes.

Unable to afford inflated bus fares, a group of labourers travelling from Chattogram to Naogaon resorted to riding atop a rod-laden truck, a journey that ended in tragedy when the vehicle overturned at the eastern end of the Jamuna Bridge in Tangail, killing 17 people and leaving 10 others critically injured.

Separately, two people were killed by a lightning strike while riding on the roof of a train in Ghorashal, Narsingdi.

"Every Eid, lakhs of workers, day labourers, construction workers, and informal sector employees are forced onto bus rooftops, open trucks, and freight vehicles simply because they cannot afford extortionate fares," Mozammel said. "The state repeatedly fails to ensure their safe passage during the two Eids each year, despite their labour being the backbone of our economy."

The association urged bus owners to immediately honour their commitments and comply with government directives on fare regulation.

It also called on the general public to refrain from travelling on vehicle rooftops, overloaded transports, or unfit buses and launches, warning that such journeys put lives at grave risk during what it described as an already hazardous Eid season.