Passengers suffered on Sunday due to the suspension of bus service from Barishal Nathullabad central bus terminal to Dhaka and other parts of the country.
The long-distance bus services kept suspended from Saturday night following clashes between bus workers and three-wheeler drivers on Saturday afternoon that left 10 people injured.
鈥楢 clash took place between the two groups of workers over controlling the office of the bus workers union in the bus stand area and parking of three wheelers in front of the bus stand,鈥� said additional deputy commissioner of Police Farooq Khan.
Passengers endured sufferings as no transport was available on the day. No bus left the terminal except the BRTC buses on the inter-district routes.
Doly Biswas, who came with her mother to go to Gopalganj said that she did not get any transport till 12:00pm to reach their destination.
鈥榃e have suffered because the bus operation was stopped without any announcement,鈥� said Runa Begum, who came to the bus station along with her brother to go to her father-in-law鈥檚 house in Manikganj.
District bus owners group secretary Kishore Kumar Dey said that at least two buses and five three-wheelers were vandalised during the clash between the agitated bus and three-wheeler workers.
Asim Dewan, president of Barishal District Bus Owners Association, said that a group of road transport workers is causing trouble through incitement. So it has not been possible to start the bus service yet, but efforts are being made to resume the bus service soon.
Injured bus worker Sourav said that when they returned to the Nathullabad bus stand from Madaripur, the outsider three-wheeler drivers beat them up following a scuffle.
After that, all bus workers unitedly protested, and a clash took place at that time with the drivers of three wheelers.
At least 10 workers were injured in the clash, and two of them were sent to the hospital, the bus workers said.
A three-wheeler driver named Gautam Roy said, 鈥楾hey attacked us unprovoked, and bus workers were vandalising cars and beat up three-wheeler drivers.鈥�
Gautam also said that they operate three-wheelers on seven routes from Nathullabad. If compensation is not received, a strict agitation programme will be called, including stopping the service.
A large number of policemen are deployed at the bus stand and the roads to avoid any untoward situations.
