Ctg rickshaw pullers protest embargo

24 December 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent, Ctg

The embargo on rickshaw plying from Barik Building to Bahadderhat road intersection in the port city from January should be halted until separate lanes for rickshaws have been made. This was among the eight-point demand put forward by the leaders of Chittagong Metropolitan Rickshaw Driver-Owner Coordination Action Council at a press conference in Chittagong Press Club yesterday. The leaders said, if the decision is not halted before December 29, they will go for stronger movement and will call a human chain along with rickshaws in the area. Denying the local administration's accusation that rickshaws were causing traffic jam in the city, they blamed unplanned parking of public and private transports, narrowness of the roads and hawkers and makeshifts available beside the roads for the gridlocks. They also said, if this decision is implemented, it will cause huge financial sufferings to the rickshaw pullers and owners. Also, local commuters including students will face immense trouble in commuting, they added. The council's Advisor Nazrul Isalm Sarker read out the written statement in the conference while its President M A Quader and General Secretary Mostafa Kamal, Sramik Dal Chittagong divisional President A M Nazim Uddin and Sramik League leader Md Safar Ali were present among others. Mentionable, Chittagong Metropolitan Police passed an order resisting rickshaw moving from Barik Building to Bahadderhat intersection from January 1.