At least twenty people were injured as bus workers clashed with those of CNG-run three-wheelers at Sabaihat and Ferighat areas at Manda upazila in Naogoan on Friday.
Following the clashes, bus and three-wheeler communications between Rajshahi-Naogaon districts were suspended at 3.00pm for an indefinite period.
Witnesses said that three-wheeler owners and drivers first vandalised two buses in Sabaihat bazar area over previous enmity.
In protest, Motor Shramik Union men attacked the three-wheeler workers and vandalised their vehicles at the Ferighat area, they added.
Naogaon Motor Sramik Union general secretary Motiuzzaman Moti said that there was a ban on three-wheeler’s movement on the highway but the owners and drivers were plying their vehicles despite repeated requests from the district administration and transport leaders.
He said that following the issue, a group of three-wheeler owners and drivers vandalised a bus at Sabaihat area in the upazila and beat up two transport workers around 3.00pm.
‘The agitating three-wheeler owners and drivers vandalised at least ten buses at various areas in the district and beat up a dozen of bus workers’, he claimed.
Sabaihat branch of CNG-powered Three-Wheeler Owner and Worker Association president Shafiqul Islam said that the district bus owner association and motor workers union had been obstructing the movement of CNG-run three-wheeler illegally by setting up temporary check posts at Choddomile and Ferighat areas in the upazila.
He said that the motor shramik union men beat up three-wheeler drivers when they staged demonstrations on August 29 to protest the illegal harassment. Shafiqul said that motor shramik union men stopped a three-wheeler at Sabaihat area and beat up its driver without any provocation.
He claimed that the bus workers again attacked them in the Ferighat area and vandalised their 15 to 16 vehicles, leaving at least 15 workers injured.
Manda police station officer-in-charge Mozammel Haque Kazi said that additional law enforcers were deployed in the Ferighat area to avoid any untoward incident.
He said that they were trying to normalise traffic movement to ease the sufferings of commuters.