The High Court has directed the government to immediately form a committee to find out why the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway has become so damaged so soon.
The order comes as bus service providers took their vehicles off the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways indefinitely protesting the dilapidated condition of the roads.
The court order was issued as Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh filed a writ in this connection following The Daily Star report "Impossible ride stop" on August 12. According to the HC directives, the committee would be comprised of professors of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
The court also asked the government to submit an investigation report in six weeks.
In addition to the miserable road conditions, the strike has put passengers into serious trouble ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
However, buses to the northern districts from Gabtoli in Dhaka and Tangail are operating. Bus services from Mohakhali in Dhaka to 12 districts have been disrupted due to the ongoing strike which entered its fourth day yesterday.
Bus owners' association and workers union of Tangail jointly suspended the bus service to Dhaka on Saturday. Transport workers in Mymensingh called their strike on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the district administration of Tangail yesterday held a meeting with the association and union leaders and requested them to resume bus services on local routes.
"Now we will operate bus services on local routes in Tangail," said Mir Lutfor Rahman, general secretary of Tangail District Transport Workers Union.
Bus services to the northern districts from Mohakhali and Mymensingh through Tangail have been suspended due to the horrible road conditions, he said.
"Almost the entire Dhaka-Tangail highway is damaged and the situation is even worse in the Ashulia-Baipail stretch, in Konabari of Gazipur and Elenga in Tangail," said Lutfor.
Inter-district buses run from Mohakhali to Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Gazipur, Tangail, Sirajganj, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Bogra, Naogaon and other routs, he added.
Of the 23 routs, vehicles to and from 16 northern districts use the Dhaka-Tangail highway.
"We demand immediate repair of the damaged road," he said, adding, "The road not only damages vehicles but also cause frequent accidents."
The associations in Tangail went on strike saying vehicular movement has become impossible on the 90-kilometre Elenga-Baipail road.
The Dhaka-bound passengers from Mymensingh are facing great trouble due to the strike, reports our Mymensingh correspondent.
The rush of passengers at Mymensingh Railway Station continued for the fourth day yesterday. The railway authorities are trying to tackle the situation with only four additional compartments added to trains.
Mymensingh District Citizens' Movement, a body of civil society, formed a human chain at Shaheed Firoj Jahangir Square in the town demanding immediate repair of the highway.
Source : The Daily Star
