Truckers in Bangladesh have withdrawn an ongoing strike after 33 hours as the government has assured them of meeting some demands immediately and some in a latter period.
The agitating truck and covered van owners and workers had a meeting with Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on 22 September at his office in Dhaka where the minister, police chief, and administrative high officials agreed with their demands.
After the meeting, the president of Bangladesh Covered Van-Truck-Prime Movers Goods Transportation Owners Association, Mokbul Ahmad, and the president of Bangladesh Truck Drivers Workers Federation Talukder, Md Monir, announced that they are happy with the outcome of the discussion.
“We are withdrawing the strike,” confirmed Ahmad.
The owners and drivers had been enforcing the 72 hours long strike on 15 point demands from 21 September in the morning. The strike had suspended movement of all kind of goods across the country while loading and unloading at the ports came to a halt.
As the leaders of the associations announced the withdrawal of the strike, trucks and covered van owners have joined work, and reports found that some drivers have already started to go towards the ports with cargoes.
A senior port official acknowledged that the operation of goods transport is resuming gradually.
“Due to the truck strike some vessels could not make scheduled sail today in the absence of outbound container supply,” said Mohammed Abdullah Jahir, chief operating officer of Saif Maritime Limited.
He noted that some outbound containers have become stockpiled at the off docks while the port’s outer anchorage has an increased number of waiting vessels due to the work disruption.
Sharar Nayel
Bangladesh Correspondent
