Transport workers face hard time:Daily Star

Road transport workers are struggling to earn a living as most of the buses and goods-carrying vehicles are sitting idle due to the countrywide blockade. Drivers and helpers of these vehicles are paid on the basis of daily trips. Their income has either stopped or gone down since the opposition started enforcing the indefinite blockade on January 6, said transport owners and workers. "Our bus has
been out of operation for around a week. As the owner has no income now, he does not pay us any wages," said Mohammad Hira, driver of a local bus service A Alam Paribahan that runs on Dhaka-Dinajpur route. During a visit to Gabtoli and Mohakhali bus terminals yesterday, several hundred buses were seen parked in rows with workers passing an idle time. "I have paid my family expenses by spending from the deposit in the last couple of days. I am worried what will happen if the situation remains the same," said Billal Hossain, a helper of Binimoy Paribahan that operates on Dhaka-Tangail route. A number of reputed bus companies pay a small amount to their workers for daily food. But workers of most of the local services get nothing, workers and owners said. "Wages of our drivers and staff vary from route to route. For example, we pay a driver Tk 1,500 for a round trip from Dhaka to Rangpur and Tk 1,600 for that from Dhaka to Chittagong. As our buses are not operating now, we pay Tk 200 daily to our drivers as khoraki [daily food money]," said Mosharraf Hossain, manager of Hanif Paribahan. Advertisement Officials of another operator Shyamoli Paribahan said they paid Tk 200 daily for food only when a driver or helper from a district got stranded in another district. Ena Paribahan running on Dhaka-Mymensingh route pays Tk 100 to each driver as food money if its buses are not operated. But most other services on the same routes hardly pay its workers in such situations, says Saiful Islam, member-secretary of Dhaka-Mymensingh route transport workers union. In the capital, most of the drivers and helpers operate the buses on a daily contract basis. "I have to pay Tk 2,600 daily to the owner. We [driver and staffs] share the rest of the money we earn. If we cannot operate our bus, we have no income," said Miraj Hossain, who operates a bus on Gabtoli-Jatrabari route. The situation is no different with truck and covered van workers. A truck or covered van driver gets around Tk 1,700 for a Dhaka to Chittagong trip and around Tk 2,200 for a Dhaka to Rajshahi trip. "We have kept our vehicle inside the terminal since the blockade started and we are not getting any money," said Aziz Mia, a covered van driver, who was talking to The Daily Star in the capital's Tejgaon truck terminal yesterday afternoon. Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Shramik Federation General Secretary Osman Ali demanded the owners' cooperation and sincerity to resolve the miseries of the transport workers.   Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity Secretary General Khandaker Enyet Ullah said they had a plan to push the owners on behalf of their association to ensure at least food money for all workers in such a situation. There are around 2 lakh buses and goods-carrying vehicles running across the country, says Abul Kalam, vice-president of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity. The workers federation claims there are around 40 lakh road transport workers across the country.