Commuters left helpless

Commuters of Sylhet continued to suffer, as road communication of the division with rest of the country remained suspended for the second consecutive day yesterday.

Greater Sylhet Stone-related Traders and Workers Union along with transport workers reportedly enforced the strike on Tuesday at 6am, demanding resumption of stone extraction.

Since that morning, transport workers blockaded all important roads around Sylhet city, district towns and other major upazila towns of the division. They were seen blocking ways of private vehicles too.

Sobibur Rahman, a vegetable trader, said a covered truck carrying his vegetables could not enter the city, as protestors blocked Humayun Rashid Chattar, one of the entry points.

"I needed to hire push-carts to take the vegetables to the depot. That will raise prices of vegetables and consumers will have to bear the brunt," he said.

Visiting several kitchen markets in the city, this correspondent witnessed shortage of necessary daily perishable commodities. Their prices had gone up as well.

As no public transport vehicles, including CNG-run auto-rickshaws, are plying the roads, city dwellers are being forced to use rickshaws and ride-sharing motorcycles to reach their destination.

Rickshaw-pullers raised fares significantly and ride-sharing bikers are charging extra over the base fare, adding more trouble for regular commuters.

Nagar Express, a dedicated bus service initiated by Sylhet City Corporation, remains suspended, as they are in fear of protestors beating people and vandalising.

Moklisur Rahman Kamran, convenor of City Bus Owner Group and a city councillor, said, "We are not part of the strike, but our bus drivers and helpers were intimidated, and in some areas beaten, for plying on the roads. That's why we are not being able to provide the service."

Abdul Jalil, convenor of the union that called the strike, said, "The 72-hour strike will continue till Friday morning, if the government does not meet our demand. There are lakhs of people in need and we must think of them."

Till this February 10, several HC and government orders were issued to stop stone extraction, and during the first months of the pandemic, the administration started enforcing laws in this regard. The Bureau of Mining Development also stopped leasing out quarries.