Indefinite transport strike underway in Sylhet

An indefinite transport strike called by Bangladesh Road Transport Owner’s and Worker’s Federation, is underway in Sylhet district on Wednesday (February 28).

Dhaka-Sylhet highway became almost empty due to the strike.

Thousands of commuters are stuck as the district transport worker’s association enforces the strike to press for a five-point demands, including solving the gas crisis.

Mohammad Zakaria Ahmed, central committee law affairs secretary of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation and president of the Sylhet District CNG-run Auto-Rickshaw Workers Union, said vehicles carrying examinees, foreign travelers and patients are kept out of the purview of the strike.

Workers’ union President Moinul Islam said, “For a long time in Sylhet, the ‘limit’ of the CNG filling stations ends after the 18th–20th of every month. As a result, the drivers of CNG-driven vehicles suffer greatly. Passengers also suffer because of this.”

He also said that there is currently a severe gas crisis in Sylhet. The transport workers are not getting gas even after standing in queues for hours at various CNG refuelling stations every day. In the past few years, with the aim of solving the gas crisis, we went to the Sylhet divisional commissioner, deputy commissioner, local ministers and MPs, but no solution has been found. Finding no other way, we started the movement now.