Long-distance bus services suspended for three days: No compromise, passport passengers in trouble

All long-distance bus services from Benapole to Dhaka have been suspended for three days, and no compromise has been reached yet. The bus owners' association has started the strike since last Friday evening, as a result of which passport passengers are facing extreme suffering and insecurity. Many passengers are returning home at additional cost through alternative arrangements.

In this regard, the transport owners have complained that the administration has not been able to find any solution despite discussions with them. The leaders of the bus owners' association said that earlier the buses coming from Dhaka used to drop off the passengers at the Benapole check post and take the empty buses to the terminal, but after 3 am on Friday, the passengers were forcibly dropped off in the buses and sent to the terminal. This left the passengers insecure and several passengers were sent to the check post by local buses.

On Sunday morning, discussions were held between the two sides at the Jessore Deputy Commissioner's office, but no compromise was reached there. The administration said that this was done to ease traffic congestion, and that it has been made mandatory to pick up and drop off passengers from the municipal terminal. On the other hand, transport owners said that if the buses cannot use the old border terminal, they will stop their operations.

Passport passengers have complained that although a passenger terminal has been built near the Petrapole immigration checkpost for the convenience of passengers coming from India, the border terminal in Bangladesh is being closed and sent to a new terminal two kilometers away, which has become a big problem for them.

Leaders of the Transport Owners Association have said that buses should be allowed to ply as per the previous rules, otherwise the strike will continue. Meanwhile, the administration said that Ansar members have been deployed at the new terminal to ensure the safety of passengers and that passport passengers have been allowed to drop off at the border from 12 midnight to 6 am.