A two-day bus strike enforced by Sunamganj District Transport Owners and Workers’ Association began on Friday morning, causing suffering of the commuters. As the strike was enfoced ahead of BNP's divisional rally slated for Saturday, the party leaders alleged that the strike was called as per the government's directive to thwart their political programme. The association leaders said they are  observing the strike to realise their four-point demand, which includes withdrawal of tolls on Lamakazi bridge on the Sunamganj-Sylhet road, banning batter-run three-wheelers and unlicensed CNG-run autorickshaws from the highways, banning BRTC buses and renovation and modernization of Sunamganj Bus Terminal. Read more: Commuters hit as 2-day bus strike begins in Khulna BNP’s Sylhet divisional rally, slated  at the Government Alia Madrasa field in the city, has been plagued with transport strikes called by several organisations.  Habiganj Motor Owners’ group on Thursday called for an indefinite strike on movement of buses, demanding an end to “administrative harassment” and halting illegal three-wheelers.  On the other hand, Sylhet district Workers’ Solidarity Council called a 12-hour strike from 6:00am to 6:00pm on Saturday on movement of all types of vehicles to press home their four-point demands.  Besides, Sylhet district Road Transport Owners’ Association also called a dawn to dusk strike on Saturday in Sylhet on their two-point demand including for not issuing any new license for CNG-run auto rickshaw. Read more: Day 2 of Khulna strike: Commuters suffer as bus & launch services suspended ahead of BNP rally Fazlur Rahman, president of Habiganj Motor Owners’ group, at a press conference at Habiganj municipality bus terminal on Thursday claimed that there was no link between their strike and the BNP rally.

Bus, minibus owners and workers have called off their strike, in demand for a crackdown on vehicles, particularly three-wheelers, not authorised to ply on roads and highways. The decision to withdraw the strike was taken after assurance from the district administrator to fulfill their demands at a meeting Tuesday noon, said Anwar Hossain Sona, joint secretary of Khulna District Bus-Minibus Coach Owners Association. Read: Drives against illegal rice hoarders begin Earlier, Khulna District Bus-Minibus Coach Owners Association and the Bus-Minibus Coach Owners-Workers Unity Council decided to enforce the strike on 18 routes from Wednesday. The local administration was given time till Monday (May 30) to stop the movement of the unauthorised vehicles on the roads and highways.  

Private bus operators in Khulna have announced an indefinite strike from June 1, in demand for a crackdown on vehicles, particularly three-wheelers, not authorised to ply on roads and highways. The strike call was given by the operators under the aegis of the Khulna District Bus-Minibus Coach Owners Association and the Bus-Minibus Coach Owners-Workers Unity Council on Monday. Read: 59-year-old woman 'ends life' in Rajshahi The decision was taken at a meeting of a joint committee of the two associations, said Anwar Hossain Sona, joint secretary of the Khulna District Bus-Minibus Coach Owners Association. "Not only are accidents rising on Khulna roads and highways, but also bus operators are suffering losses due to the movement of these unauthorised vehicles," he said. Read: Bus strike hits commuters hard across country Earlier, the administration was given time till Monday (May 30) to stop the movement of illegal vehicles on the roads and highways. "As no initiative was taken to meet our demand, buses in Khulna will stay off the roads indefinitely from Wednesday as per our previously announced programme,” Anwar said.  

Sylhet District Bus-Minibus-Coach-Microbus workers union has decided to enforce an indefinite strike in the district from Tuesday morning to press home their four-point demand including granting bail to drivers in cases filed over road crashes. The association announced the strike at an emergency meeting on Monday, said joint secretary of District Bus-Minibus-Coach-Microbus workers union, Ali Akbar. Also read: Sher-e-Bangla nurses go on strike over police attack on colleague No workers will join their work from 6 am on Tuesday as part of the strike. The three other demands of the union are cancelling dope test while issuing new driving license, providing  new licenses and renew those in a short period of time and giving permission for parking vehicles on  the khas land of the government and stop filing cases for wrong parking. During the meeting, held on Saturday, the union leaders said they have gave an ultimatum till March 20 to meet their demand but the local administration did not take any steps to fulfill their demands. As a result, they decided to go for strike. Also read: Faction of petrol pump owners threatens strike from Feb 17 They also threatened to go for tougher movement if their demands go unheeded.

An association of transport owners in Chattogram have decided to operate buses in the city from Sunday 6 am, defying the ongoing nationwide strike against fuel price hike. “We have decided to operate the bus services that are under association from Sunday," said Belayat Hossain, President of Chattogram Metropolitan Bus Owners’ Association. in a note to journalists Saturday evening. The peaceful strike was for decreasing fuel price or else increasing the transportation fares but some unidentified people are picketing on roads disguised as transport workers, he said. Also read: Transport strike disrupting goods delivery from Ctg port “With the assistance of some unwanted people they are obstructing movement of CNG, autorickshaw, personal vehicles and industrial vehicles to upset common people. This issue made us take up the decision of continuing the bus services," said the president. Earlier around 9am some transportation workers blocked the Tigerpass intersection in the city and obstructed autorickshaws and other vehicles from moving. Some victims complained they restricted public transportations and personal vehicles from moving. Around 11am police removed the workers from the road. Meanwhile, the nationwide transport strike has seriously disrupted the movement of inbound and outbound goods-laden vehicles of Chattogram Port, bringing goods delivery almost to a halt. Around 4,000 vehicles used to ply from off-docks 19 but now the number has come down to half, while that of vehicles carrying export goods from different factories to the port have also declined sharply, said Ruhul Amin Sikder, Secretary General of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA). Also read: Day 2 of bus strike: Commuters' pain is auto drivers' gain A highly-placed source at Chattogram Container Terminal and New Mooring Terminal, said the delivery of imported goods from the port has declined to 5% in these two days. On Wednesday (Nov 3), the government raised the prices of diesel and kerosene to Tk 80 from Tk 65 at the retail level. The next day, convenor of Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van, Tank Lorry and Prime Movers Owners and Workers Coordination Council Md Rustom Ali announced their decision to go on indefinite strike, following an emergency meeting.

Commuters had a harrowing time on Saturday morning as the indefinite nationwide strike of bus owners and transporters entered the second day. The bus, truck and van owners decided to go on a strike from Friday in protest against fuel price hike in Bangladesh. Read: Transport strike in Khulna: Pressure of passengers on trainIn the capital, all buses -- intra and inter-city -- and microbuses stayed off the roads for the second day in a row. People travelling to and from distant areas as well as the office-goers were the most affected. In many areas of the city, UNB found people waiting on the roads, desperately looking to hail ride-sharing cabs and shared autos to reach their destination. Several commuters complained that the auto and cycle rickshaw drivers were taking advantage of the situation by overcharging them. "Auto drivers are demanding double the fare. It's a nightmare for us," said an office-goer. Traffic inspector Akteruzzaman (Uttara Rajlaxmi), said, “I have not spotted a single bus on the roads since morning. Only cabs, private vehicles and autos are plying." On Thursday, Convenor of Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van, Tank Lorry and Prime Movers Owners and Workers Coordination Council Md Rustom Ali announced their decision to go on an indefinite strike, following an emergency meeting. Read: Counter-protest: DU admission seekers block Dhaka-Aricha highway Leaders of the Council said the government raised the toll tax for using Bangabandhu Bridge and Muktarpur Bridge from 257% to 300% “illogically” on November 2 and then it raised the prices of fuel. "Transport services had remained suspended for a long time due to Covid in the past two years. When the transport owners are trying to make a turnaround from their huge losses caused by the Covid shutdown, the decision of raising the bridge toll and fuel prices was announced," the Council said in a statement.

Vehicular traffic on the busy Dhaka-Aricha highway came to a halt for nearly an hour on Friday, as candidates seeking admission to seven colleges under Dhaka University blocked the high-speed corridor in protest against the indefinite nation-wide bus and truck strike. The admission seekers gathered on the Dhaka-Aricha highway around 8am and blocked both its carriageways, halting traffic. This was after they faced trouble reaching the entrance examination centers owing to the public transport strike. They were soon joined by a number of government bank job aspirants who faced a difficult time finding alternative modes of transport to reach their exam centres. Also read:Commuters suffer as buses stay off roads

The indefinite bus strike that District Road Transport Workers’ Union enforced Sunday morning demanding an end to extortion from the bus drivers on Sylhet bypass road has been withdrawn. Nurul Haque, general secretary of the union said the strike was withdrawn in the afternoon. Deputy Commissioner of the district Md Jahangir Hossain and Additional Superintendent of police (Sadar) Jaynal Abedin held a meeting with the union leaders at noon where they assured the workers that they will take step to stop extortion on Sylhet bypass road. Read: Indefinite bus strike underway in Sunamganj The workers’ leaders then decided to withdraw the strike on condition of  resolving  the issue within three days. Nurul Haque said  they will resume strike if the issue is not resolved in three days. DC Jahangir Hossain said hopefully the problem will be resolved once police are deployed in the area.

District Transport Workers Union went on an indefinite bus strike on Sunday morning demanding an end to extortion from the bus drivers on Sylhet bypass road, causing immense sufferings to people. Nurul Haque, general secretary of Sunamganj District Transport Workers Union, said some extortionists have been realizing Tk 50 per bus on Sylhet bypass road from September 1. Read: Bus services in Chandpur halt amid transport workers’ protest They also informed the matter to local administration but they did not pay any heed to resolve their problem, forcing the workers union to enforce the strike, he said. “The strike will continue until our demand is met,” said Nurul. Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of Sunamganj Police, said he suggested the transport workers to inform the matter to Sylhet police and Sylhet bypass is under their jurisdiction. “ I have nothing to do as it is not happening in my district.”

Bus workers continued their strike in a number of southern districts including Khulna and Satkhira for the 2nd consecutive day on Tuesday protesting against implementation of the Road Transport Act.