Transport operators dealt a fresh blow

Transport of passengers and export-import goods began to suffer again yesterday as most vehicles avoided plying roads amid a new wave of violence surrounding the students' non-cooperation movement.

The students took the measure against the government to protest the deaths of over 204 people and nationwide arrests by the police.

The latest disruption comes just over a week after vehicular movement on the highways was severely restricted due to violence centring the quota reform movement.

"No trucks, covered vans, or prime movers are operating on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway as the owners are afraid of violence," said Chowdhury Zafar Ahmed, general secretary of the Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Mover Goods Transport Owners Association.

Compared to normal times, only one-fourth of the covered vans and prime movers operated on the road on Saturday night, he added.

Data from the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) shows that around 35,000 to 40,000 vehicles use the four-lane highway daily, with 35 to 40 percent being goods-laden ones.

The highway is the main route for around 90 percent of Bangladesh's international trade. Any disruption means that export-import activities, as well as production in factories, will suffer.

An official of the RHD said the movement of vehicles on the key highway connecting the capital to the port city slumped yesterday.

Apart from goods-laden vehicles, the unrest has also affected the movement of inter-district passenger buses.

Md Abdus Sattar, general manager of Green Line, said they are not operating buses due to a lack of passengers.

"No passenger has bought any tickets today (Sunday), though we were ready to run our buses," he said, adding that Green Line operated buses on almost all routes on Saturday night despite having very few passengers.

"Not only us, but all bus operators are facing the same situation," he added.

Mosharref Hossain, general manager of Hanif Enterprise, said they stopped operating all their long-distance buses since yesterday morning.

On July 23, Khandker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, had told The Daily Star that around 30,000 buses ply inter-district routes daily under around 200 companies. Each bus is losing at least Tk 6,000 in revenue daily.

The loss is even greater if fixed expenditures are factored in, he said.

Bangladesh has over 83,000 registered buses, with private investment in the business growing in line with the expansion of national and regional highways.

Buses carry roughly 70 percent of passengers, followed by inland waterways, rail and air.

Export and import activities at Chattogram port were disrupted yesterday. Though assessment activities of import-export goods were normal, clearance of imported goods was slow.

Officials from customs and the port authority reported that, until 3pm yesterday, approximately 200 trucks were cleared from the port though, on average, the port sees the departure of around 7,000-8,000 trucks daily during usual times.

However, the shipment of cargo containers bound for the Kamalapur inland container depot (ICD) was halted due to the closure of railway wagons, as per port officials.

Mohammad Fyzur Rahman, commissioner of Chattogram customs house, said customs activities related to import and export consignments continued as usual, but there was a noticeable decrease in the release of goods due to a shortage of long-route vehicles.

"Transportation of containers carrying imported goods from Chattogram to Dhaka, and vice versa, was disrupted due to the closure of railway wagons," said Akbar Hossain, commissioner of Kamalapur ICD.

Nonetheless, the clearance and customs procedures for goods previously located in Dhaka were proceeding as usual, he said.