Transport leaders declare withdrawal of indefinite strike
The leaders of road transport owners and workers have announced the withdrawal of their ongoing work abstention from Thursday morning.
The announcement came around 12:45 am (Wednesday night) on the first hour of Thursday after a long meeting with the home minister and other government stakeholders.
The leaders of the road transport sector promised to lift their unannounced strike as they were assured by the government to review some sections of the law. The Home Ministry will send a recommendation for reviewing some legal points of the law to Road Transport and Bridges Ministry.
The government also gave seven months (by June 30) time to road transport drivers to update their all instruments including driving licences. Till then they will be allowed to continue their job with existing instruments.
“We have called off our work abstention as the home minister gave us assurance of fulfilling some demands. He told us that the government will review some sections of the Road Transport Act-2018,” added Rustam Ali Khan after the meeting.
The owners and workers of different categories of road transports went to an indefinite strike in the name of work abstention from Sunday last as the authorities started enacting the new road transport law.
Branding the new road transport law as anti-workers’ interest, they stopped plying buses, trucks, and covered vans across the country and placed 9-point demand to the government.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal sat a meeting with the leaders of owners and workers of buses, trucks and covered vans on Wednesday night to discuss the ongoing indefinite strike.
The meeting began at 9:20 pm at his Dhanmondi’s residence. Along with the goods-transport leaders, Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Leaders and high officials from transport authority BRTA were also present in the meeting. The meeting continued till 12:30 am.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh Truck Covered-van Goods Transport Owners Workers Unity Council called an indefinite strike across the country, demanding the change to the new Road Transport Act- 2018.
