Goods transport sector is passing through a severe crisis as their vehicles are being vandalised and torched during general strikes for the last few months.
Truck and covered van owners told New Age that their business had already cut by more than 70 per cent and a good number of owners had failed to deposit the instalment of bank loan against their vehicles.
The sector people claimed that nearly one thousand vehicles had so far came under attack due to hartals and political chaos and more than 400 trucks and covered vans were vandalised severely in the last three months.
The transport owners across the country have failed to make normal trips of goods in last week due to the general strike throughout the week, owners said.
According to the leaders of Bangladesh Covered Van Truck Owners Association, there are 80,000 covered vans and trucks across the country and most of the vehicles remain idle during hartals.
The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in its recent study said, ‘The country loses around Tk 1,600 crore for general strike in a day and the transport and communication sector loses Tk 60 crore in a day’s shutdown.’
‘I have incurred nearly Tk 1 lakh loss in the last two months as my six covered vans could make only one trip per week instead of three trips and four of the vehicles came under severe attack by pro-hartal activists’, said Harun Ar Rashid, owner of Habib Transport Agency in Chittagong.
He said a few number of owners brought out goods transports with risk during hartals to sustain their business and charged extra fair which impacted on the prices.
Transport cost from Chittagong to Dhaka increased by up to 100 per cent as a small number of vehicles are plying amid the fear of torching and vandalism during and before hartals, Harun said.
Most of the owners of new truck and covered van bought their vehicles with bank loan and they mast have to deposit instalment from Tk 50,000 to Tk 62,000 per month for each vehicle, he said, adding that the owners were now facing problem.
They have to spend Tk 3,000-Tk 3,500 per day as maintenance cost including bank instalment, staff payment, tax token, fitness and insurance and recently the owners are meeting this cost from their own pockets, Harun added.
Abdul Motaleb, acting
general secretary of the Bangladesh Covered Van Truck Owners Association, said the transport sector was facing severe threat as torching and vandalism started much before starting a hartal.
‘Pro-hartal activists are also attacking standing vehicles and I have never seen such kind of anarchy before,’ he said.
Motaleb, also the owner of Bismillah Transport Agency, said the transport business had already came down by 25 per cent and if the political instability continued most of the owners would become loan defaulters.
Mokbul Ahmad, proprietor of Nazrul Transport Agency, said he had to incur loss of around Tk 3,000 against per vehicle for a day’s of hartal.
He said he felt scared to ply vehicles even the day before a hartal as pro-hartal activists very often began vandalising and torching vehicles much before starting a hartal.
-With New Age input
