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State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday said the ongoing strike of water transport workers will be resolved by today (Thursday).
To resolve the matter, discussion is underway among the water transport workers, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Ministry of Shipping and the Department of Shipping, he said.
The state minister made the comments after a meeting with newly-appointed Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami in his office at the Bangladesh Secretariat in response to questions from the reporters.
While talking to The Financial Express, Bangladesh Lighterage Sramik Union President Abdur Rahim, a body of river transport workers, said his organisation is now at a meeting with Chittagong Port Authority to raise its demands.
After the meeting, the federation will announce its next course of action, he added.
Meanwhile, loading and unloading operations of consumer goods, oil and sand are affecting across the country for the third consecutive day as the strike announced by water transport workers is now underway.
Large ships carrying imported goods from abroad to Bangladesh are also stranded at Chattogram port during the strike. The number of stranded products is increasing day by day.
On Tuesday Workers of goods, oil and sand-carrying water transports started a countrywide indefinite strike to raise an 11-point charter of demands, including implementation of a 2016 pay scale.
The strike is rolling into the third day as the workers are yet to get any assurance from the authorities concerned, Yeasin Master, a member of Bangladesh Water Transport Workers’ Federation (BWTWF) told the FE on Thursday noon.
Passenger-carrying transport workers abstained from joining the strike due to Durga Puja, he said.
The government is yet to initiate any further talk to this end in the last two days after the strike started, the water transport leader said.
On Monday, the workers sat for an eight-hour-long meeting with Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and transport leaders, labour ministry officials and water transport owners over their demand but failed to reach any understanding in this regard, Yeasin said.
On October 13, BWTWF, Bangladesh Naval Workers’ Federation and eight other workers’ unions had jointly called the strike.
That prompted the workers to go on their pre-announced indefinite strike from Monday midnight.
It is the fourth time the workers have abstained from their work over their demand, according to the BWTWF.
The other demands include issuance of landing pass and food allowance by the owners to India-bound vessel workers; and determination of sea and night allowances for all vessel workers and compensation of Tk 1.0 million in case a worker is killed in workplace accidents.