Strike halts road link of Dinajpur with other parts

Road communication of Dinajpur with the other parts of the country remains halted since this morning due to a transport strike following a clash between Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) students and local transport workers yesterday.

A bus bumped into another bus carrying students of HSTU at Maharaja School intersection in Dinajpur town around 7:30pm yesterday, our Dinajpur correspondent reports quoting Superintendent of Dinajpur police Hamidul Alam.

This prompted the students to stop the bus and allegedly beat up the driver and helper in Dinajpur Bus Terminal area, the official said.

Later in the night, the students blocked the Dinajpur-Rangpur highway in front of the university in Basherhat area of Sadar upazila and torched two buses.

They also locked into a scuffle with the transport workers leaving 10 of them hurt, the official added.

In protest, the transport workers started an indefinite strike from this morning demanding punishment of the perpetrators, removal of vice chancellor and proctor of HSTU and monetary compensation for the damage, said M Rafiq, general secretary of Dinajpur Transport Workers Union.

The transport workers alleged that the students clashed with them following provocation of the VC and proctor.

The decision was taken jointly by the workers and bus owners Wednesday night, he added.

Following the strike, no buses left Dinajpur for other districts today while long-distance coaches from Dhaka and Rajshahi reached the district. But the tickets of the buses that entered the district and were scheduled to leave on Thursday were cancelled, Rafiq said.