Thousands of commuters suffered immensely as transport workers of the Jangalia bus terminal in Comilla went on a strike yesterday.
The transport workers enforced the strike demanding punishment of the people who attacked their fellows in the Alekhar Char area of the district on Thursday.
During the strike, movement of buses from Comilla to Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Chandpur and Chittagong was halted, our Comilla correspondent reported.
Alamgir Hossain, organising secretary of Comilla Transport Workers’ Union, said a group the activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra Legue and Jubo Legue, associate bodies of the ruling Awami League, in the presence of the officer-in-Charge of Sadar Dakhshin police station Prashanta Pal assaulted their President Mohammad Ali and General Secretary Motaher Hossain as they had refused to provide extortion to them.
“We are also demanding the removal of OC Prashanta Pal who remained silent without taking any action against the goons,” he said.
He also threatened to extend their strike to the entire district if their demands are not met. Sheikh Shahjahan, assistant police super, told the Dhaka Tribune that they would take action against the OC, if he was found guilty.
Protesting the attack, angry workers barricaded the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Alekhar Char area on Thursday evening, causing a tailback on the highway. Our Chittagong correspondent adds: Executive President of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity’s Kafil Uddin said transport from Chittagong to other districts had plied like other days while no transport from Comilla came into the port city.
“The strike is imposed following local dispute amongst local transport owners and workers which did not affect port city’s transport movement,” he said.
