Auto-rickshaw, light vehicle workers demand support during lockdown

CNG-run autorickshaw and light vehicle workers have demanded food and cash support during the strict nationwide lockdown that begins on July 1, following three days of partial restrictions starting Monday.

Placing a seven-point demand at the Shishu Kalyan Parishad Auditorium in Dhaka, leaders of the Bangladesh Auto-Rickshaw Light Vehicle Transport Workers Federation (BALTWF) said the workers in the transport sector are in dire straits now after being forced to spend their savings to make ends meet.

The seven-point demands include food rationing, cash-aid support, health safety equipment and vaccination, issuance of driving licences without hassle, stopping police harassment and resumption of the registration process of light vehicles.

Also Read - Public transport suspended from Monday as part of new Covid curbs

"The repeated lockdowns have become a threat to our livelihoods as many of us have become unemployed," BALTWF Secretary Golam Faruk said. 

"It will not be possible for us to survive the situation without the direct support of the government.

"We have already urged different government offices to provide us with direct food and cash aid so that our families can survive," he added.