Shawdesh Desk:
After a 41-hour suspension, bus operations on the Rajbari-Kushtia route resumed around 6am on Monday morning.
The disruption had occurred due to a conflict between transport workers from the two districts.
Sukumar Bhowmik, the newly elected general secretary of the Rajbari District Road Transport Owners Group, confirmed the resumption of services.
The suspension began on Saturday afternoon following an altercation between bus workers of the two districts.
According to reports, the incident was triggered by a traffic jam near the Gorai Bridge area on the Rajbari-Kushtia road in Kumarkhali.
Two local buses, one owned by Kushtia and the other by Rajbari, became entangled in the jam caused by an accident between a truck and a van.
Following the clearing of the congestion, a dispute arose when both buses attempted to call passengers simultaneously. The conflict escalated, with workers from the Kushtia-owned bus reportedly assaulting their counterparts from the Rajbari-owned bus.
Later that day, when the Kushtia-owned bus reached the New Market Bus Stand in Rajbari, the Rajbari workers retaliated.
The altercation led to transport workers in Kushtia detaining 10 Rajbari-owned buses at the Kushtia Bus Terminal at around 1pm. In retaliation, seven Kushtia-owned buses were detained in Rajbari’s Daulatdia. The dispute resulted in the suspension of bus operations on the route, causing severe inconvenience for passengers.
On Sunday, representatives from the Rajbari Road Transport Owners Association and worker leaders held a meeting with their counterparts from Kushtia at Mashpara, Rajbari. The meeting, attended by transport owners and worker leaders from both districts, successfully resolved the conflict.
Sukumar Bhowmik said: “The dispute between the transport workers of both districts was resolved in yesterday’s meeting, allowing bus services to resume normally from 6am today.”
Passengers have expressed relief as regular bus services return to the route after days of disruption.
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