Transport workers staged demonstration in Lalmonirhat and Panchagarh on Sunday demanding urgent food aid.
The transport workers of Kaliganj upazila gathered near Rawsha Filling Station in Lalmonirhat around 10:30am and blocked the Lalmonirhat-Burimari road for an hour. Hundreds of vehicles -- including goods-laden trucks -- were stranded on both sides of the road due to the blockade.
Delowar Hossain Mukul, secretary of Kaliganj upazila unit of Paribahan Sramik Union, said they would announce tougher programme if they do not get food aid soon.
The demonstrators said they have been staying at home for a long time as the government suspended the operation of public transport to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
They claimed that they did not provide any relief assistance from local administration, although the officials made a list of workers a month ago.
Kaliganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Rabiul Hasan said they have sent a list of transport workers to the respective Union Parishad and asked them to provide relief by sorting. "I have no scope of providing relief, the union parishad will distribute the relief," the UNO added.
In Panchagarh, nearly 200 transport workers put up barricades on the Dhaka-Panchagarh highway and demonstrated at Chowrangi intersection in Panchagarh town for three hours from 11:00am, demanding adequate food aid for their survival.
During the blockade, hundreds of vehicles -- including an ambulance -- were stranded at the intersection.
The government suspended the operation of public transport to stop the spread the Covid-19 virus but different types of shops and markets remain open and various different modes of transport including three wheelers and easy-bikes are plying the roads, said Rafiqul Islam, president of Panchagarh Bus, Minibus and Microbus Workers union.
Due to the restriction on the plying of busses, transport workers and their families are in deep trouble, he said.
On information, Sadar Upazila UNO Golam Rabbani and Officer in Charge of Panchagarh Police Station Abu Akkas Ahmed reached the spot around 1:00pm.
The workers withdrew the blockade after the UNO gave assurances of arranging 10kg rice for each worker every ten days.
