Commuters suffer as passenger buses go off streets

Commuters in different parts of the city were facing serious troubles in reaching their destinations on Wednesday as public transports went off the streets apprehending agitations by students.

School and college students started demonstrations for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday protesting the killing of two college students in a road crash on Airport Road on Sunday and demanding resignation of the Shipping Minister for his comments on the accident.

Students of different schools and colleges blocked Farmgate, Matuwail, Jatrabari, Babu Bazar Bridge, Kabi Nazrul Government College road, Tongi, House Building road in Uttara areas in the morning.

Witnesses said a group of students of different colleges blocked the House Building road in the city’s Uttara area in the morning, disrupting traffic movement.

People were seen waiting on the roads for long for public transport. Office-goers and school students suffered most to reach their destinations in time.

However, some buses of BRTC were seen plying the city roads.

Our Gazipur correspondent reports: Students of EH Arif college put up barricade at Konabari on Dhaka-Tangail highway at 10 am, disrupting vehicular movement.

Besides, students of different schools and colleges took position and staged demonstrations in College Gate area on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway demanding safe road.

Earlier, the government on Tuesday asked the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to take legal actions as per law against the underage drivers and drivers without licences in mass transports,

On Sunday, Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, students of the college section of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College, were killed as a ‘Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan’ bus ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road.

Angered by the incident, students went on a rampage vandalising whatever buses they found before them.

They also blocked the Airport Road for five hours on Monday, creating huge tailbacks on many city roads.

They blocked intersections in Farmgate, Mirpur, ECB Chattar, Kakrail, Shantinagar and Motijheel areas on Tuesday morning while in Uttara and Badda in the afternoon, bringing the vehicular movement to a grinding halt in the areas.

Source: dailysun