Murder it was, say transport owners

Transport owners have acknowledged yesterday’s deaths of two college students as murder and demanded highest punishment for those responsible for it.

“Yesterday’s incident was no accident, it was murder,” Khondaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, said.

He made the comments while talking to The Daily Star over phone today. However, the group is yet to publicise its stand through a formal statement in this regard.

Yesterday, two students of the Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College were run over by an unruly bus on Airport Road – in yet another glaring example of Dhaka’s unruly transport sector. At least nine others were injured after being hit or run over.

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Give 2 victims' families Tk 5 lakh each

Aggrieved students went on rampage yesterday, vandalising whatever buses they found before them. The agitation carried on for the whole day today.

The intense agitation has pressured the government much; leading to the arrests of two bus drivers and two helpers today, who they said were involved with the reckless driving.

The transport owners’ association will investigate the incident, he said. “If any fault from the owner’s side is found, the association will take action against him.”

We condemn such incident and demand highest punishment for those responsible so that nobody can commit such crime in the future, Enayet said on behalf of the association.

Any transport company owner responsible behind appointing unskilled drivers without proper licenses should be punished, Enayet Ullah also said.