Food supply activities in Khulna have come to a standstill following an indefinite strike by members of Khulna Food Transport Contractors Association, with leaders blaming a truck owners’ syndicate for the crisis.

The work stoppage has halted the movement of goods trucks and suspended loading and unloading activities at Maheshwarpasha, CSD, and 4 and 7 No ghat areas of Khulna, disrupting government emergency services, according to the association.

Around 270 contractors were engaged under the Food Transport (Road Division) in 2005. Due to the absence of fresh tenders since then, they have been operating for nearly two decades under the same 2005 rates, the contractors said.

Business leaders warned that if the indefinite work stoppage is not withdrawn, emergency services would be severely affected, about 2,500 workers in Khulna would lose their livelihoods, and contractors and traders would face losses amounting to crores of taka.

Association President SM Azizur Rahman Swapan said contractors working with the food department in Khulna, Rajshahi, Chattogram and Dhaka hold government-issued transport licences and are entitled to hire trucks from any licensed transport operator as per their convenience.

But in Khulna’s Maheshwarpasha, CSD, and the 4 and 7 No ghat areas, they do not have the freedom to hire trucks, he said.

“The transport system there is controlled by a truck workers’ union-linked group known as Joint Transport which forces traders to take vehicles only from them. Their one-sided syndicate remains active,” he alleged.

He said the syndicate had also operated during the previous government’s tenure, eased temporarily after the August 5 mass uprising, but became active again following the national election.

Because of this truck owners’ syndicate, it has now become impossible for us to continue business, Swapan added.