Restaurant owners in Sylhet have called off their indefinite strike in protest against mobile court raids, following assurances from the local administration and ruling party politicians.
On Tuesday afternoon, restaurant owners across Sylhet declared to go on an indefinite strike from Wednesday in protest against the mobile court drives against "substandard" food and non-possession of a licence by some eateries.
Sylhet administration officials spoke to the aggrieved restaurant owners at night. They were also contacted by the ruling Awami League leaders.
The restaurant owners withdrew the strike after the administration assured them of halting the drive.
Shanto Deb, president of the Sylhet Caterers' Owners Association, said, “The administration has assured the restaurant owners that they would not be harassed in anyway. Hence, we have withdrawn the strike."
However, most of the restaurants in Sylhet have remained closed since Tuesday evening after the strike was called in the afternoon.
During the drive on Tuesday, magistrates ordered the closure of three eateries for "serving substandard foods" and not having a licence and detained two staff members.
The drive led restaurant workers to immediately take to the streets and block Zindabazar Road in the heart of the city for about an hour, causing a long traffic jam.
They demanded that the drive be halted and the detained workers be released soon.
Shanto said the drive led by a mobile court of the Rapid Action Battalion on Tuesday sealed Bhojon Bilash restaurant and detained its manager and supervisor, while Pach Bhai and Panshi eateries were fined Tk 80,000 each.
Meanwhile, magistrate Palash Kumar Bashu who led the drive, said the foods served in the restaurants were of substandard quality.
Bhojon Bilash had not renewed their trade licence since 2019 and they possessed no legal documents authorising them to serve food, he said.
“Temporarily we have sealed the restaurant and taken two officials of other restaurants into custody for interrogation,” said the magistrate.
Magistrate Palash claimed during earlier drives too, they found stale foods in the restaurants.
