Launch operation on the Barishal-Dhaka route resumed almost immediately after the BNP’s divisional mass rally ended on Saturday evening, having remained suspended since Thursday morning. Speedboat movement on the Bhola-Barishal route also resumed.
However, launch operation on internal routes of the district is yet to resume.
Meanwhile, no long haul or intra-district buses will leave Barishal central bus terminal at Nathullabad till 6 am Sunday as per the previous announcement, Barishal Bus Owners Association President Golam Mashrek Bablu told UNB.
People were seen collecting the next day’s tickets from the counters.
Three-wheelers and autorickshaws which went on a strike on Friday demanding free movement on highways were also seen plying the roads.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) river security and traffic management department inspector Kabir Hossain said the Sundarban-11, Prince Awlad and Parabat-18 launches will leave Barishal terminal on time for Dhaka at night.
However, Barishal Launch Owners Association member Saiful Islam Pintu said the number of passengers on these launches is low.
Md Tareque, who operates speedboats from Barishal DC Ghat, said boat operations resumed from Bhola after 4 pm with a huge number of passengers.
Meanwhile, Barishal-Patuakhali mini bus owners association General Secretary Kausar Hossain Shipon said they will hold a meeting to decide if the strike will be extended after 6 am Sunday.
Commuters were hit hard after all modes of transportation went off the streets and waterways in Barishal on Friday, just a day before a divisional rally called by the opposition BNP.
Barishal was virtually cut off from the rest of the country after the two-day transport strike got underway on Friday. Buses, launches, speedboats, microbuses and even the three-wheeler auto-rickshaws were unavailable.
While the bus owners called the strike to demand a ban on the movement of auto-rickshaws on the highways, the three-wheelers want the authorities to allow them free movement there.
A transport strike before BNP’s anti-government divisional rallies has recently been common. Such strikes were called ahead of the opposition party’s rallies in Khulna, Mymensingh and Rangpur.
The government has denied any link with the transport strikes coinciding with BNP’s rallies.
