A section of bus owners resumed bus services in the port city on Sunday although the nationwide transport strike continued for the 3rd straight day.
A faction of bus owners association took the decision on Saturday.
However, passengers claimed the bus operators have doubled the fares.
Belayet Hossain, president of Chattogram Metropolitan Bus Owners Association, said, “Buses under the association are operating in the city to mitigate public sufferings.”
Admitting that the transport workers are charging double fare, Belayet said, “We resumed bus services to bring the situation under control and the situation will become normal within two or three days. We will take fare fixed by the government.”
Meanwhile, no long route buses left the terminals and many passengers were seen trying to reach their destinations by hiring CNG run auto-rickshaw paying double fare.
“We have decided to operate the bus services that are under association from Sunday,” said Belayat Hossain, President of Chattogram Metropolitan Bus Owners’ Association in a note to journalists Saturday evening.
The peaceful strike was for decreasing fuel price or else increasing the transportation fares but some unidentified people are picketing on roads disguised as transport workers, he said.
The nationwide transport strike has seriously disrupted the movement of inbound and outbound goods-laden vehicles of Chattogram Port, bringing goods delivery almost to a halt.
On Wednesday (Nov 3), the government raised the prices of diesel and kerosene to Tk 80 from Tk 65 at the retail level.
The next day, convenor of Bangladesh Truck-Covered Van, Tank Lorry and Prime Movers Owners and Workers Coordination Council Md Rustom Ali announced their decision to go on indefinite strike, following an emergency meeting.
Transporters went on an indefinite strike from Friday morning in protest against the recent fuel price hike in Bangladesh.
Source: United News of Bangladesh