Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader says it is not possible to accept the demands of transport workers and change the road transport laws at the moment and called on them to end their strike.
“At the moment we would like to ask them to end their strike,” said Quader, also general secretary of Awami League.
“There is no point in causing suffering to the people.”
Quader made the statement in response to a question from the media after meeting with the EU ambassador to Bangladesh at the Setu Bhaban in Dhaka on Sunday.
“There’s no scope to change the law at the moment,” he said. “It’s not possible. They must wait until the next parliament.”
The road transport minister called on the transport workers to be patient.
“If there are any legitimate concerns they can be addressed through dialogue.”
The Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation has declared a 48-hour strike since Sunday morning to press for eight demands and changes to the recently revised road transport law.
The strike has halted long-haul bus and freight services nationwide. Commuters are also facing great difficulties due to halts to metropolitan bus service in large cities like Dhaka and Chattogram.
The demands include making all accidents under the Road Transport Act ‘bailable’, the cancellation of the provision that allows a worker to be fined Tk 500,000 for involvement in a road crash, lowering minimum educational qualification required for obtaining driving licences from class VIII to class V, for transport worker representation on investigation committees on cases under section 302, an end to harassment by police, to set fines according to the wage scale and to require certification from a Workers Federation representative when vehicles are registered and penalties are overturned.
Transport leaders have threatened to go on indefinite strike from Oct 30 if their demands are not met.
Quader also discussed the current political climate after his discussion with the EU ambassador.
He was quoted by bdnews24.com as saying that the demands put forward by the Jatiya Oikya Front composed of Kamal Hossain and the BNP leaders were also impossible to meet at the moment.
“The Oikya Front is complaining. It is typical for the opposition to be a bit critical. After all, the purpose of the opposition is to criticise. They have made a list of seven demands. Even if we wanted to meet these demands we would have to change the constitution. It is impossible.”
“If they strike over the issue, if they are not prepared to be flexible, it could cause some unrest.”
The Jatiya Oikya Front has called for the reformation of the Election Commission, the dissolution of parliament, the freeing of jailed BNP leader Khaleda Zia and for elections to be held under an ‘impartial’ government.
Oikya Front leader Kamal Hossain has threatened to bring the government to justice if it does not meet these demands.
