Bangladesh Newspaper Archives

'50 vehicles vandalized

Date:

Passengers of the bus bail out through the windows, inset, fearing injuries.

Photo: Anurup Kanti The first day of the ticket system for buses in the port city yesterday saw a major setback with angry passengers vandalising around 50 buses protesting high fare and shortage of transport.

The city bus service stopped for nearly three hours following the rampage that began around 9:00am, which made the regular commuters to suffer.

Hundreds of passengers were seen waiting for transport at ticket counters for hours.

Many went to their destinations on foot.

Mir Borkat Hossain, a sufferer, said people were very angry with high fares and shortage of buses and pick-ups.

Counters were charging Tk 5 for a distance for which people paid Tk 2 to 3 before.

Tarun Gupto Bhanu, secretary of City Bus, Minibus and Human Hauler Owners' Association, said some passengers attacked a ticket counter at Bahaddarhat intersection and vandalised a bus around 9:00am.

The group then moved to Muradpur, Sholoshahar Gate-2 and GEC intersection area.

At least 60 vehicles were vandalised, he claimed.

Meanwhile, police and bus owners blamed each other for the shortage of transport.

nMd Shahidullah, traffic inspector of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said some bus owners created an artificial crisis on purpose.

A section of owners took their vehicles off the street during rush hour and encouraged others to do so, he added.

But Convener of Chittagong District Road Transport Owners' Group Abul Kalam Azad denied the allegation.

“Why would the bus owners want to instigate passengers in vandalising their vehicles?” he questioned.

An association leader on condition of anonymity said police were partly responsible for shortage of buses on the road.

They said police fined many vehicles in the last two days promoting the owners to keep their vehicles off the street.

He admitted to The Daily Star that some owners did influence others not to run their buses.

Police, however, said they fined only the illegally-parked buses in the last two days.

Chittagong City Corporation Mayor M Manjur Alam inaugurated the ticket system on July 25 but the service began yesterday.

The system was first introduced in the port city in April 2008 but it was in place for a few months.