Commuters suffer amid heatwave as transport strike cripples Ctg

Amid the punishing heat, commuters in port city Chattogram have been facing severe transportation woes since Sunday morning due to a 48-hour transport strike announced by local transport owners.

The strike has brought public transport in the port city to a standstill. Buses are not leaving from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari districts, nor are they coming from those districts to Chattogram.

Bus services to the capital Dhaka have also been halted.

The scorching heatwave has exacerbated the situation for passengers stranded at bus counters, especially those travelling between Dhaka and Cox's Bazar or Bandarban.

The strike follows student protests at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) over the deaths of two pupils in a bus-motorcycle collision.

Transport owners, under the banner of the Greater Chattogram Public Transport Owners and Workers Unity Council, is demanding the release of arrested linemen and transport workers, as well as a halt to government raids targeting unfit vehicles.

They are also protesting the vandalisation and burning of buses by CUET students on the Chattogram-Kaptai highway following the death of the students.

“We are observing an all-out strike to push for our four-point demands,” said Mohammed Musa, general secretary of the unity council. “No transport is moving along any of the routes.”

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner of Chattogram is expected to meet with the unity council leaders on Sunday in an attempt to resolve the situation.

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