Faridpur Bus Owners Association on Wednesday obstructed the movement of BRTC buses on the Boalmari-Dhaka route through the Padma Bridge, a day after the inauguration of the service, irking the residents of the district.
Boalmari residents said they would not allow the movement of buses owned by the association members if they continued to obstruct BRTC buses.
They said they demanded the authorities start a BRTC service on the route after the Padma Bridge was inaugurated.
On Wednesday morning, a BRTC bus started for Gulistan from the Boalmari bus terminal, only to be blocked by the local bus owners association. They also told all passengers to get off the bus, putting them in a quandary.
One passenger, Imran Farhad, said some men had forcefully taken the key to the bus from the driver and hurled abuses at him and his assistant. They had also misbehaved with the passengers, he added.
Md Kamruzzaman, manager of the Comilla depot of the BRTC, said the bus owners had no authority to stop BRTC services.
Meanwhile, Anisur Rahman, general secretary of the association, said the bus had no route permit, and that the authorities had not “taken permission” from the local bus owners to operate BRTC buses from the upazila.
The supervisor of the BRTC bus, Tarikul Islam, said: “We tried to go to Dhaka after returning the passengers their fares, but they (bus owners) they did not even let us do that. They also did not allow us to return to Boalmari. Then the bus driver said his home was in Magura and he would go there with the bus. Only then did they allow us to leave.”
“They threatened to chop off our arms and legs if our bus plied the road again,” Tarikul claimed.
Superintendent of Faridpur police Md Alimuzzaman said the police were looking into the issue.
The police would take legal action if the BRTC filed a complaint, he added.
