Obaidul: Solution by today to end transport strike

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said there will be a solution by Wednesday to the ongoing indefinite transport strike. “We have taken a decision in principle to convince the transport workers to withdraw the strike,” the minister said after a meeting at his ministry on Wednesday. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, also the executive president of Bangladesh Transport Workers’ Federation, and State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperative Mashiur Rahman Ranga, the president of Bus Owners’ Association, attended the meeting. Anisul Huq said: “A strike could not bring any solution. The door of the government is open for talks.” “The transport workers are not involved in the clash and vandalism that occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday. A wicked political party is active behind the scene,” alleged Mashiur Rahman Ranga. Another meeting will be held at Motijheel with the leaders of transport workers in the afternoon. People across the country are suffering immensely due to the strike since most of them claimed to have little idea about the matter. On Monday night, pro-government Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation (BRTWF) called the strike from a meeting held at its Motijheel office, hours after Khulna Motor Workers’ Union General Secretary Md Zakir Hossain withdrew the indefinite transport strike being observed in 10 districts of the division since Sunday demanding Jamir’s release. The decision was an outcome of a meeting with the district administration, which the central leaders rejected later on, expanding the strike nationwide. On Sunday, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, also executive president of the BRTWF, backed the strike in Khulna, saying that the transport workers had the right to protest against the sentence. The transport strike first began from Chuadanga, the home of bus driver Jamir, on February 22, the day when a Manikganj court sentenced him to life imprisonment in a landmark verdict, which is the highest punishment for any road accident in the country that occurs mostly due to recklessness of the driver. Jamir’s death sentenced was for the deaths of five people, including filmmaker Tareque Masud and cinematographer and journalist Mishuk Munier, in a road crash in 2011, while Miru’s death sentenced followed the death of a women in a road accident at Savar, Dhaka in 2003.