Bus services from Rangamati to destinations across the country have been suspended indefinitely due to a dispute between Saudia Transport and the Rangamati Bus Owners’ Association, causing widespread inconvenience to passengers.
The Rangamati–Chittagong Motor Owners’ Association halted all inter-district passenger bus services from Thursday morning, leaving hundreds of travellers stranded.
According to sources, Saudia Transport recently began operating two buses on the Rangamati–Dhaka route but allegedly failed to pay the required token fees to the bus owners’ association. As a result, the association shut down Saudia Transport’s counter on Wednesday. Although the counter was later reopened following intervention by the local administration, the owners’ association suspended all bus services from Thursday morning without prior notice in protest.
Passengers expressed frustration over the sudden disruption and demanded an immediate resolution to restore normal bus operations.
Nishat Sharmin, additional magistrate of the Rangamati district administration, said: “This sudden incident is unexpected. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and hope bus services will resume soon.”
It may be noted that the Rangamati Bus Owners’ Association is largely operated from Raozan in Chittagong.