Garment factory owners have expressed their intention to keep running their industrial units during the upcoming lockdown, while union leaders are divided on the issues of ensuring workers' safety and livelihoods. Factory owners and a section of union leaders think that if the shipment of goods cannot be made on time, the work orders may shift to other countries. "As the whole
Senior Correspondent,
bdnews24.com
Published: 08 May 2021 10:38 PM BdST
Updated: 08 May 2021 10:38 PM BdST
Long-distance bus services are suspended amid the lockdown, but some transport operators are still selling tickets and carrying passengers to north or southwest of the country. );
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Transport workers said that buses used signs identifying the passengers as garment factory workers going to work in Aminbazar and Hemayetpur on the outskirts of Dhaka to sneak through police check posts with ordinary travellers in the first few days of the lockdown.
The police began barring transports from entering Savar on Thursday, forcing the buses to start the journey from Baipail or Chandra.
Homegoers would stop at nothing
People crowd the pontoon and beyond as they try to get on one of the few ferries that were operated between Shimulia of Munshiganj and Khathalbari across the Padma. Unable to manage the surge of people heading home for Eid, the authorities had to run a few ferries yesterday. Photo: Star
People are heading home for Eid in droves.
Despite the pandemic, the subsequent restrictions on movement, officials made to stay at their work stations, and suspension of inter-district public transport, people in their thousands left for their village homes yesterday.
They left the cities on private and small vehicles, ignoring the prime minister s request to celebrate Eid at where they are to help check the spread of Covid-19.
The government yesterday decided to resume public transport services in 11 cities from today, barely a couple of days after it imposed the weeklong restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The services will be available in the areas from 6:00am to 6:00pm every day until further notice, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said at a virtual press conference.
The cities are Dhaka, Chattogram, Narayanganj, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barishal, Sylhet, Rangpur, Gazipur, Cumilla and Mymensingh, according to a circular issued by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
Though Quader said they took the decision, considering people s sufferings, sources in the transport sector said the move was made following demands from transport leaders.
Nirapad Sarak Chai protests Shajahan Khan’s remarks on Ilias Kanchan
Shahjahan Khan. File photo Star Digital Report Star Digital Report
Nirapad Sarak Chai today protested and condemned the alleged threat of boycotting its chairman Ilias Kanchan that transport leader and lawmaker Shajahan Khan made yesterday.
Shajahan Khan, acting president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, at a programme of the federation s Rajshahi regional committee yesterday made indecent and false comments against Ilias Kanchan, said the platform campaigning for road safety in a statement today.
Besides, Shajahan, also a ruling party lawmaker, threatened to boycott the actor turned road safety crusader, reads the statement.