Bangladesh: Three-wheelers continue to run on highways

Three-wheeler auto-rickshaws and auto-tempos continued to run on different highways flouting ban for the second day on Sunday while policemen and auto-rickshaw workers were injured in a clash in Feni.

Transport workers blocked different highways while bus workers observed indefinite strikes in Barisal, Bhola and Sylhet blocking highways.

Road division secretary MAN Siddique on Sunday asserted that the government would not give in to any pressure for withdrawal of the ban.

The road transport and bridges ministry on July 27 issued a circular banning movement of three-wheelers and non-motorised vehicles on highways following findings that their growing presence led to recent spate of traffic accidents on highways across the country.

Three wheelers were seen to run on Dhaka-Sylhet highway’s Borabo area, Dhaka-Chittagong highway’s Kanchpur and Mohammad Ali area, Dhaka-Rajshahi and Bogra-Nagarbari highways.

Commuters in districts including Bogra, Munshiganj, Pabna and Sirajganj suffered for lack of transports on the long routes.

New Age Feni correspondent reported that at least eight people including three policemen were injured and 10 to 12 vehicles were vandalised in a clash on Dhaka-Chittagong highway at sadar upazila on Sunday morning.

The CNG-run auto-rickshaw workers blocked the road at Mohammad Ali area and the clash erupted when police tried to disperse them. Police fired around 50 bullets to bring the situation under control.

A 20-kilometre tailback was created during the clash.

The injured policemen were Feni police line constable Abdul Gaffar and Detective Branch assistant sub-inspector Alamgir and constable Abul Kalam.

Our correspondent in Barisal reported that Barisal bus owners and workers associations called for a strike on 15 internal routes from Sunday noon after three-wheeler owners and workers obstructed buses on Gournadi-Poisharhut route.

Meanwhile, three-wheeler owners and workers, led by Sramik League, blocked Barisal-Dhaka highway at Gournadi.

Bhola bus owners and workers’ union on Sunday around 2:00pm withdrew their 28-hour strike, reported our Bhola correspondent.

New Age Sylhet correspondent reported that the district unit of auto-rickshaw workers union on Sunday afternoon postponed the strike for the next two days, following ruling Awami League leaders’ assurance to settle the issue.

Our Munshiganj correspondent reported that police were seen to help people to get into inter-district buses on Dhaka-Chittagong highway from Meghna bridge to Daudkandi bridge at Gazaria.

Sirajganj district traffic police officer Md Abed Ali said on humanitarian ground they were allowing three-wheelers to pass Koddar intersection on Dhaka-Rajshahi highway, said our correspondent in Sirajganj.

Our Pabna correspondent reported that CNG-run auto-rickshaws owners and workers staged demonstrations and blockaded Pabna-Dhaka highway at Gaspara bypass.

New Age Gazipur correspondent reported that CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners and workers staged demonstrations on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and at Joydebpur and Chandona Chowrasta and blocked the highway in Joina Bazar area.

New Age Chittagong correspondent reported that around 500 to 600 CNG-run auto-rickshaw workers blockaded a portion of Dhaka-Chittagong highway for nearly an hour from 12:00pm at Fauzdarhat.

‘The government will not backtrack on its decision not to allow auto-rickshaws on highways. If needed we will deploy magistrates of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to maintain order in the troublesome areas,’ road division secretary MAN Siddique told reporters at his office.

The ban would remain in force only in 3,570-kilometer-highway out of a total of 2.5 lakh km road network across the country, he added. (Source: New Age, August 3, 2015)