Bus services may resume from Wed

Dhaka, Aug 15 (bdnews24.com) – Bus services on Mymensingh, Tangail and several other routes from Mohakhali may resume from Wednesday, transporters say. "We've decided to resume transport from Wednesday considering the passengers' sufferings and Eid-ul-Fitr ahead. Declaration to this effect will come on Tuesday," said Mohammad Abul Kalam, president of Mohakhali Bus Terminal Transport Owners' Association, on Monday. He, however, said that they were not happy with the initial repair work to make the highways motorable, temporarily, with bricks and sand. "We are told that those would be renovated after Eid." Buses and minibuses on 12 routes on Dhaka-Mymensingh and on Dhaka-Tangail highways are not plying since August 10 and 13, respectively, which apparently paralysed movement of thousands of people, demanding repair of the rundown roads. Following this, state-run BRTC launched 20 buses on Dhaka- Mymensingh and 10 others on Dhaka-Tangail routes — hardly a match with the 300 buses run by private operators. Passengers were seen waiting at the terminal for the BRTC buses, and the workers of private buses enjoying a leisure time. 'STRIKE WITHOUT REASON' A day after communications minister Abul Hossain was censured for battered roads, the BRTC chairman echoed him. "The bus owners have stopped running buses for no reason," said M M Iqbal. After a regular discussion in the cabinet on Sunday, several ministers and state ministers slammed Hossain for the wretched condition of roads and asked for the prime minster's intervention. Hossain earlier in the day told reporters at the Secretariat that the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway was 'not unfit', and to hammer his point, he said, "The government-run BRTC buses are still operating." Iqbal on Monday told bdnews24.com that people were bound suffer as the number of buses in operation was small as against the demand. He also promised to increase the number of buses ahead of Eid. Bus owners allege that some 25 buses have gone out of order on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in the recent days. "The slow speed of buses due to the holes on the roads also triggers jam. We're facing losses due to increased fuel consumption," said Abul Kalam.