The authorities on Wednesday said the daily deposit of the CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers would not be increased.
It was decided at a joint meeting of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority with drivers and owners of CNG auto-rickshaws at Sarak Bhaban in the capital.
The drivers were on strike and called off the strike on July 14 night following assurance from the communications minister that their demands for not increasing the daily deposit would be considered.
District auto-rickshaw drivers’ union general secretary Mohammad Zakir Hossain, told New Age that the representatives of the BRTA and the police talked to them at a discussion.
He said at the meeting the decisions of not increasing daily deposit, withdrawing all cases filed against auto-rickshaws’ drivers and owners on July 11 to July 14 and launching more CNG auto-rickshaws in the city.
‘The joint commissioner of police (traffic) Mahbubur Rahman told us to give a list of owners who takes extra money from the drivers,’ he added.
The business owners’ association general secretary, Mohammad Faridul Islam Khasru, however, told New Age that the discussion was not satisfactory.
‘The authorities did not increase daily deposit as they said the price of CNG could be increased soon,’ he said.
BRTA’s chairman Mohammad Ayubur Rahman was also present among others at the discussion
Dhaka district auto-rickshaw drivers’ union and Dhaka auto-rickshaw drivers union started the indefinite strike on July 11 to press home their 10-point demand, including an end to police harassment and extra deposit realised by the owners, easy process for issuing driving licence and re-fixing fares.
On the other hand, the Dhaka metropolitan CNG auto-rickshaw business owners’ association and the Dhaka metropolitan CNG auto-rickshaw owners’ association called the strike the same day, demanding increase in daily deposit and end to police harassment on the road.
They, however, suspended the strike for two months on Tuesday after a discussion with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority officers.