Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan mum on transport strike

Ittefaq Report

Shipping Minister Md Shajahan Khan has refused to comment on the nationwide transport workers’ strike.

Khan, the acting president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, avoided the questions when reporters asked for his statement on the strike as he left his offices at the Secretariat on Sunday.

When the media persisted with their questions, he said he had ‘no comment’.

The 48-hour strike was called by the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation to call for changes to parts of the new road transport law and to press for a list of eight demands.

Long-haul and freight service has been halted across the country, while public transport in Dhaka, Chattogram and other major cities is also closed.

The draft of the Road Transport Act was passed after significant pressure following a bus accident in Dhaka on July 29 that resulted in the death of two students and which triggered student protests calling for road safety.

But transport workers have objected to several parts of the law and are demanding they be cancelled.