Commuter suffered in Rajshahi city and its surrounding areas as auto-rickshaw drivers and rickshaw pullers heyday charging extra from the passengers taking advantage of shortage of vehicles on the roads on the hartal day on Thursday.
Commuters alleged that the drivers had compelled them to pay high fare as there was no access to alternative transport and buses were not playing on the road because of general strike enforced by BNP led opposition alliance.
The CNG-run human haulers had taken Tk 5 per person as additional fare while drivers of auto-rickshaws charged fare as per their will, the commuters said.
Kabir Hossain, a city dweller, told New Age though he had requested the drivers to charge regular fare, they refused him.
‘As a result, we had to pay double or triple fares to the drivers. But, the police did not take any action against the drivers,’ he alleged.
Zillur Rahman, sales and marketing officer of Nitol Motors, said, ‘The hike in the price of fuel and CNG has doubled our sufferings.’
‘The general commuters, who use public vehicles, are the ultimate target of government to reduce its subsidy and increase the revenue collection,’ another commuter and college teacher Subrato Das said.