A 24-hour transport strike enforced by Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation protesting the killing of a bus driver allegedly by Detective Branch (DB) of police in Chattogram is underway today.
The strike that began at 6:00pm yesterday disrupted road communications between the district and the rest of the country, causing sufferings to commuters.
Earlier, a regional committee of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation announced the strike in two phases -- one from 6:00pm Wednesday to 6:00pm on Thursday on 68 district routes connecting Chattogram and 19 local routes and the second phase on April 28.
General Secretary of the workers' body Mohammad Musa said that the second phase of the strike will be enforced on all routes of five districts in the division for another 24 hours on April 28.
The protesters demanded immediate arrest of the killers and bringing them under trial.
A group of men who identified themselves as DB police members stopped the Shyamoli Paribahan bus for searching Yaba when it reached Shantirhat area of Patiya upazila of the district, said Bablu Ahmed, manager of Shyamoli Paribahan regional unit quoting the bus supervisor Azim Uddin.
They dragged bus driver Jalal Uddin, 50, hailing from Dinajpur, out of the vehicle and beat him up mercilessly around 8:00pm on April 22, leaving him severely injured, he said.
Later, doctors declared the driver dead when he was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
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