Owners and drivers of CNG-run auto rickshaw and paddle rickshaw besieged Nagar Bhaban, the Chittagong City Corporation office, yesterday for four hours demanding immediate removal of battery-run rickshaw from the city’s streets.
They also threatened to launch tougher agitations if their demand was not met by June 10.
Several thousand leaders and activists of four organisations – Chittagong Auto-Rickshaw Auto-Tempo Shramik Union, Chittagong CNG Baby-Taxi Malik Kalyan Samiti, Chittagong Metropolitan Rickshaw Malik Samiti and Chittagong Metropolitan Rickshaw Chalak-Malik Samannay Sangram Parishad – besieged the Nagar Bhaban from 8am to 12pm to draw attention to their demand.
Speakers at the demonstration said the battery-run rickshaws are technically and structurally faulty and that they are made illegally.
“There are over 50,000 battery-run rickshaws currently driving on the streets of Chittagong. Its faulty design and the drivers’ ineptitude are causing traffic congestion and road accidents on the roads,” they said, alleging that the administration turns a blind eye to the matter.
Amid the demonstration, the city corporation Mayor M Manhur Alam spoke with the leaders of the demonstrators and assured them that he would work with the administration to find a solution.
Upon receiving the mayor’s assurance, the protesters withdrew from the city corporation premises.
However, they said they would block the city’s entry points, including the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, if their demand was not met by the deadline.
Kamal Uddin, president of Chittagong Auto-Rickshaw Auto-Tempo Shramik Union, Mohammad Hossain, president of Chittagong CNG Baby-Taxi Malik Kalyan Samiti, Siddique Mia, president of Chittagong Metropolitan Rickshaw Malik Samiti, and Md Taslim, president of Chittagong Metropolitan Rickshaw Chalak-Malik Samannay Sangram Parishad, addressed a rally during the siege, among others.
