Barishal District Bus Owners Group has threatened to enforce a strike on November 4 and 5 ahead of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) divisional rally which the party claimed a plan to thwart their programme.

The bus owners said they will enforce the strike on these days if the three-wheelers are not banned from the highways by November 3 but BNP leaders alleged that the strike was planned to  prevent the party members from joining the rally,

Kishore Kumar Dey, general secretary of the group, said  they have decided to go on strike demanding a ban on the movement of battery-run three wheelers on busy highways.

“Battery-run three wheelers are operating on the highways despite a ban from the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry. The number of buses plying on the Dhaka-Barishal highway has increased since the opening of the Padma Bridge, thus the risk of road accidents has also increased,” he said.

No buses will leave Barishal Bus Terminal on November 4-5 if  movement of three-wheelers from the highways could not be stopped within November 3, Kishore added.

Read: Bus strike called off in Khulna

Later, the Bus Owners Group submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Barishal in this regard.

Replying to a question, Kishore said that the announcement of their strike has nothing to do with BNP’s upcoming rally.

“We had no idea about BNP’s rally. We’ve been ho;ding meetings regarding the strike for the last one week,” Kishore added.

Asked about the strike, BNP’s divisional Organizing Secretary Bilkis Jahan Shirin said that it is a part of a conspiracy to deter the party members from attending the rally.

“Why do they have to suspend public transport on November 4-5 in particular? It’s nothing but a plot to foil our programme,” Bilkis said.