Buses operating on Dhaka-Mymensingh route connecting the capital with five northern districts stayed off roads for the fourth straight day on Sunday causing immense sufferings to thousands of commuters.
Transport operators said shabby road conditions forced them to suspend operation.
Bus service between Dhaka and seven other northern districts via Tangail also remained partially suspended on the day. Buses also stayed off roads connecting Faridpur town with Boalmari and Alfadanga upazila towns since Sunday.
Suspension of bus service has caused untold sufferings to the passengers who regularly travel between the capital and Mymensingh, Netrakona, Kishoreganj, Sherpur and Jamalpur. Road links between Dhaka and parts of Gazipur district have also been affected.
Passengers crowded the capital's Kamalapur railway station all day for travelling to different destinations.
'There is a huge pressure on trains going to Mymensingh, Sherpur and Jamalpur,' Abdus Salam, a Mymensingh-bound passenger, told New Age.
Abdul Kalam Azad, superintendent of Mymensingh railway station, on Sunday said that they were taken aback by the huge pressure on trains for last couple of days. He said that about 3,500 tickets were being sold at the station everyday against 365 seats in four inter-city trains leaving Mymensingh for Dhaka.
The communication ministry, however, took no initiatives till last night to resume bus service between Dhaka and northern districts.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on the day ordered the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to repair the busy highways linking Dhaka with other major cities, on a priority basis to restore bus service and ease public sufferings.
When contacted, communications minister Syed Abul Hossain told New Age that he would sit for talks with transport owners soon to get over the crisis.
When his attention was drawn to the people's sufferings, the minister said buses operated by the state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation had been pressed into service to ease the plight of commuters.
Earlier on Thursday, transport operators suspended bus service on Dhaka-Mymensingh route for an indefinite period, demanding immediate repair of the roads which, they said, became unfit for traffic.
The Tangail District Bus Owners' Association on Saturday enforced an indefinite transport strike on the Dhaka-Tangail route in protest against the government's 'indifference' to the abysmal condition of roads.
Transport operators have also threatened to enforce strike on all routes connecting Dhaka and northern region.
No inter-district bus left Mohakhali terminal on Sunday.
'I came here to take a bus to Bogra. As no bus left Mohakhali for the destination, I am going to Gabtali with the expectation that I would get a bus there,' Tariqul Islam, a student, told New Age at Mohakhali bus terminal.
About 1,000 buses leave Mohakhali inter-district bus terminal carrying more than 50,000 passengers everyday to some 20 destinations in several districts, including Mymensingh, Netrakona, Kishoreganj, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Gazipur, Tangail, Sirajganj, Bogra, Naogaon, Joypurhat and Gaibandha.
A number of buses, however, left Gabtali and Kalyanpur terminals for northern districts, including Gazipur, Tangail, Sirajganj, Bogra, Naogaon, Joypurhat and Gaibandha.
It takes a few days to repair the roads on an emergency footing to facilitate restoration of bus service ahead of Eid. We will resume operation once the roads are repaired,' Mohakhali Bus Terminal Sarak Paribahan Samiti president Abul Kalam told New Age on Sunday.
Asked why the bus owners took such a decision ahead of Eid, he said 'We have no complaints against anybody. We are simply unable to run buses on such cratered roads.'
Abul Kalam, also a ruling party leader, held the Roads and Highways Department responsible for the shabby condition of roads.
Asked whether the government had taken any initiatives to repair the roads, he replied in the negative and threatened to suspend operation on all routes to northern districts.
Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners' Welfare Trust chairman GM Siraj, also the owner of SR Travels, said his buses were operating between Dhaka and northern districts.
The Roads and Highways Department recently requested transport owners to have patience saying that the department had started repair work on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.
The department blamed unplanned construction of structures on both sides of the road for the damage to the highway.
'The structures have been built in such a way that even a light shower causes water-logging and damage to the roads. There is no drainage system along the road,' it said.
Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan, also a leader of transport workers, was scheduled to hold a meeting with the representatives of bus owners at his residence on Sunday night. But the meeting was postponed.
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday with officials of different departments under the communications ministry on the issue of rehabilitation of roads.
Our correspondent in Tangail reported that bus service between Dhaka and Tangail remained suspended on the first day of the strike jointly called by Tangail District Bus-Coach Owners Association, Tangail District Minibus Owners Association and Tangail-District Bus-Coach-Minibus Workers Organisation.
However, buses plied on other inter-district routes via Tangail. Leaders of the associations met Tangail district administration on Sunday and demanded immediate repair of Dhaka-Tangail highway and turning it into a four-lane highway.
Hundreds of Dhaka-bound passengers remained stranded at Tangail and many of them were seen frantically looking for train tickets while many others were trying to reach Dhaka by other inter-district buses.
United News of Bangladesh reports: The owners of buses operating on different routes from Faridpur in consultation with transport workers decided to suspend bus service on the routes.
About 32-kilometre road stretch from Faridpur town to Boalmari and Alfadanga via Majhikandi has been in bad shape for the last two years.
Source : New Age
No comments:
Post a Comment