Buses to operate amid hartal: Owners' Association

Bus owners in Dhaka have announced that their vehicles will operate today, despite the nationwide hartal called by BNP and Jamaat.

"Buses and minibuses will continue to operate on all routes in Dhaka city, the suburbs, and between districts," said Khandkar Enayet Ullah, general secretary of the Dhaka Road Transport Owners' Association.

"An emergency meeting was held with the association's senior officials, Dhaka-based transport companies, route owners' associations, and labour leaders to discuss the hartal announced by the BNP and Jamaat, which caused chaos in the name of holding a rally," read a statement signed by Enayet Ullah.

The leaders have also urged the members of transport associations and companies to maintain normal traffic on all routes on Sunday.

"The transport owners and workers strongly reject this anti-people strike," the statement added.

However, Enayet Ullah mentioned that the operation of inter-district routes will depend on passenger availability.

Kazi Akhtaruzzaman, manager at Hanif Enterprise's Kalyanpur counter for the Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj routes, said, "The owners' association has instructed us to continue operations, so we will be running buses tomorrow [Sunday] as usual."

"Regular long-distance buses are departing from Dhaka tonight as per their schedules. Approximately 25 to 27 buses operate daily from Dhaka to Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj. Currently, we have plans to run all the buses as per the schedule," he told The Business Standard last night.

However, Md Tuhin Hasan, manager at the Mohakhali counter of Shah Fateh Ali Paribahan, another North Bengal-bound transport operator, explained their decision not to run buses after midnight.

"We are currently selling tickets for buses until midnight. In the morning, we will decide whether to resume bus services after assessing the situation," he told TBS.

Habib, manager at the Badda counter of Labib Paribahan, which operates buses to Barishal and Jhalakathi, stated, "We are currently selling tickets for buses departing from Dhaka until 12:30 tonight. We plan not to continue operations tomorrow."

Khandkar Enayet Ullah mentioned that bus owners and drivers have the discretion to decide whether to run or suspend services as they see fit.

"Due to the lack of security on the streets today (Saturday), we couldn't provide adequate transport services. There were concerns about arson related to the BNP rally, and as a result, several buses were set on fire. Because of this, the owners and workers were not willing to take the risk," he added.

The leaders of the association also called upon the police administration to enhance security arrangements in critical areas of the city to ensure smooth traffic flow on the day of the hartal.