Bus services from Habiganj to other parts of Bangladesh are halted due to the election to the local transport workers’ union.
According to Habiganj District Motor Owners Group sources, polls to the district bus, minibus, coach and microbus workers’ union began at 8am on Saturday.
Besides the regional roads, bus services from Habiganj to Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong are also closed.
Traffic movement would return to normal after polling ended at 4pm, the authorities said.
Passengers in this situation not only had to find alternate routes to commute but also had to pay higher fares.
Dhaka-bound passenger Mahbub Alam said: “I need to go to Dhaka for urgent work. However, now that the road is closed, I have to go to Shaistaganj by an autorickshaw. From there I have to get a vehicle from Sylhet or Moulvibazar to reach Dhaka.”
Afzal Hossain, a passenger going to Sylhet, questioned: “Why will traffic be stopped when there is an election? The workers can drive after voting. What do they gain by making passengers suffer like this?”
In this regard, Abdur Rahman, who is overseeing the union election, said: “Vehicles on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway will run from Sylhet to almost all routes of the country. We earlier informed through a press conference that bus services from Habiganj would be stopped to ensure that people did not suffer much.”
“However, we apologize to the passengers for this temporary inconvenience,” he added.