The government is pressing bus owners to operate their vehicles in defiance of the BNP alliance-enforced ongoing nationwide non-stop blockade of the country’s road, rail and waterways.
Those who refuse to operate their long route buses, will have their counters padlocked, State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development and Jatiya Party lawmaker, Moshiur Rahman Ranga, said yesterday at a meeting with bus owners.
At the same meeting State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal assured owners that they would be compensated if miscreants damaged the buses on the roads.
The meeting, held at the Gabtoli office of Aslamul Haque, ruling party lawmaker for Dhaka 14 (Mirpur), aimed to normalise the country’s transportation system despite the blockade.
Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan presided over the meeting at which a number of bus company owners and transport workers’ leaders were present.
Dhaka Bus-Truck Owners’ Association Secretary Kafil Uddin, who is the managing director of Hanif Paribahan, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We were forced by the government to keep buses running.”
Asaduzzaman told the meeting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had given assurances that transport owners would be compensated if buses were damaged.
Moshiur Rahman Ranga said: “We would like to remove the sufferings of the public. Buses must continue to operate on the highways.”
Kafil Uddin said: “At the end of 2013 more than 800 buses were burned, but bus owners were not compensated by the government. How can we be sure of compensation now?”
“Highway buses cost between Tk70 lakh and Tk1cr. If the government compensates us for each incident, we will agree to operate buses on the highways,” he said.
“But we are worried because the LGRD minister told us that bus counters would be padlocked if we refuse to operate our long route buses,” the Hanif Paribahan managing director said.
