Home ›› 22 Oct 2022 ›› Nation
The launch workers in Khulna have embarked on a 48-hour strike since Friday morning with a 10-point demand including a hike in wages. Along with the previous bus transport strike, this has left thousands of commuters to suffer.
A total of 15 launches ply on a southern route from Khulna but none of them left terminals since this morning, giving passengers a harrowing time. However, other launches and ships are moving along with cargo.
Delwar Hossain, divisional organisational secretary of Bangladesh Launch Labour Association, said they called the strike to press home their ten-point demands, including wage hike, “and it has no connection with the BNP’s mass rally slated for Saturday”.
The workers on strike said their demands included wage hikes, river excavation from Bhairab to Nowapara, and landing passes for India-bound launches.
From Thursday evening, none of the passenger-carrying launches left Khulna due to the strike announcement but freight launches and boats have been operating.
Thousands of commuters in Khulna have been hit, with buses staying off the roads since Friday morning in the wake of a two-day strike called by bus-minibus owners and workers.
Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners’ Association and the Motor Workers’ Union decided to go on strike in protest against the plying of unauthorised three-wheelers in the district.
Since morning, not a single bus left or entered Khulna as the strike was called on all the 18 routes of the division.
In many areas, this correspondent found people waiting on the roads, desperately looking to hail some public transport to reach their respective destinations.
Jashore-bound passenger Poppy Begum came to visit her sick father in Khulna. She was desperately looking for any means to go back to Jashore as she has a young child at home.
Many Jashore-bound passengers had to return from the Sonadanga bus stop in Khulna as no bus left since morning.
Nirob Islam, a resident of Satrasta intersection of the city, had similar grievances. He was supposed to go to Dhaka to visit a sick relative but was unable to due to a lack of transport.
On October 19, Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners’ Association, in the presence of the Motor Workers’ Union leaders, announced their decision to go on strike on October 21 and 22.
The union leaders had said that the strike would be to protest against the movement of unauthorised three-wheelers, locally known as Nasiman, Kariman and Bhatbhati.
Their other demand included the shutting of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) bus counters at every nook and corner of the district.
However, BNP leaders claimed that the bus strike was called to create an artificial crisis to obstruct their mass rally in Khulna slated for Saturday.
Khulna District BNP General Secretary Monirul Hasan Bappi said the ruling party have planned to stop buses from various upazilas and nine districts of Khulna division to prevent the leaders and workers from coming to the rally.
Vice President of Khulna Bus-Minibus-Coach-Microbus Owners Association Kazi Enayet Hossain said a transport strike has been called from Friday morning to Saturday evening from 6 am to 6 pm to protest against the increase in the price of fuel and the movement of three-wheeled vehicles on the highway, adding, “If our demands are not met within this period, the strike period may increase.”
General Secretary of Khulna Motor Workers Union Zakir Hossain Biplab said the workers union has expressed solidarity with the decision of the Bus Owners Association.
Meanwhile, most of the transport counters were closed on Friday. No buses departed from Khulna nor any arrived. Commuters looking for transport had to return home. Those who were able took alternative transport such as motorcycles.
