Dhaka-bound Rangpur buses on undeclared strike

Rangpur bus owners announced the suspension of all types of inter-district and Dhaka-bound bus services in Rangpur Friday morning ahead of BNP’s rally in Dhaka causing commuters to suffer.

In a spot visit to the Kamarpara bus terminal, this correspondent found that the ticket counters were open, however, they were not selling any tickets. Commuters were seen looking for alternative transport options.

The transport counter managers claimed that they have stopped their services due to a lack of passengers.

SR Travels counter manager, Ripon Hossain said, “There is no strike ongoing. We are not running busses due to a scarcity of passengers.”

Hasan Ahamed, Assistant Counter Manager, Agomoni Express said, “We had very few bookings for our morning trip so it was cancelled. Dhaka-bound night coaches will run if there are sufficient passengers.”

Their service from Dhaka, however, reached Rangpur on time in the morning, he added

Meanwhile, many passengers at the bus stop said, the transport owners went on an undeclared strike ahead of the BNP’s rally in the capital tomorrow causing severe suffering to the travellers.

Mofakharul Islam Liton, a resident of the Robertsongonj area of the city said, he along with his wife needed to go to Dhaka this morning urgently to meet the physician on Saturday for his health care. He is uncertain if the appointment can be rescheduled if he fails to travel to Dhaka on Friday.

Another passenger, Sumon Miah, a garments worker who came home at Rangpur two days back made a similar observation. He has to return to Dhaka on Friday as he is supposed to join his workstation on Saturday.

Joint Secretary, of Rangpur District Transport Owners Association, Aftabuzzaman Linkon said, the association has no decision on the transport strike. People felt reluctant to travel to Dhaka being scared of violence over the opposition rally. So, they are not operating the bus services for the shortages of passengers.

According to the Rangpur railway station sources, the train services, however, remained as usual.

BRTC Rangpur Bus Depot deputy general manager Md Golam Faruq told that they have no bus service to the capital from Rangpur. Their other inter-district operations remained as usual.