CNG drivers block road in Banani for hours, causing Mohakhali-Uttara gridlock
Around 6:30pm, they freed the main road with army intervention, police say
A group of CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers blockaded the road in front of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) headquarters in Banani for eight hours, demanding permission to ply their vehicles across the capital city.
They started protesting in front of the BRTA office at around 10:30am yesterday. Later, around 12:30pm, they blockaded both sides of the busy road, disrupting traffic movement along the Uttara to Mohakhali.
The drivers mostly from Dhaka's outskirts demand that they be allowed to operate across the metropolitan area. Currently, they are not permitted to operate in the capital city, reports UNB.
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Around 6:30pm, they freed the main road but around hundreds of them were still protesting on the sidewalk, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Traffic Division (Mohakhali Zone) Assistant Commissioner Md Delwar Hossain.
Around 30–40 army personnel rushed to the spot in the afternoon and removed the roadblock around 6:30pm after speaking with protesters, another DMP Traffic Division official said.
Assistant Commissioner Md Delwar Hossain told The Business Standard that the auto-rickshaw drivers had protested recently in a similar manner.
"They started protesting this morning again. Due to their blockade, traffic movement in both directions –-Uttara to Mohakhali and Mohakhali to Uttara– was stopped," he said.
The protesting drivers said they have been demonstrating to press their demand for fixed routes for CNG-run auto-rickshaws operating in the capital.
They also announced that the protest would continue until their demands were met.
The protesters were seen only allowing ambulances and vehicles heading to the airport to pass.
