DHAKA, 19 September 2005 — Troops were on high alert across Bangladesh yesterday as the local communist party called a dawn to dusk strike to oppose a fuel price hike that has made living costs soar, officials said.
Parts of Bangladesh came to a halt as the country’s leading leftist party called a nationwide strike to protest at the government decision to raise fuel prices.
Businesses and schools were closed in Dhaka and highway traffic was thin as most public buses plying on shorter routes suspended services as well to protest against a 30 percent price hike of petrol and diesel in less than two months.
Hundreds of troops from the border force Bangladesh Rifles patrolled city streets and highways as security officials braced for possible political violence during the daylong shutdown.
Bangladesh increased the prices of petroleum products earlier by between 5.6 and 18.4 percent to offset soaring global oil prices which cost the impoverished country an additional $500 million last year.
Workers of the Communist Party of Bangladesh held rallies in Dhaka and the other main cities and towns yesterday.
Dhaka’s streets were mainly empty although some private cars and taxis did not observe the daylong strike. Normally only cycle rickshaws and buses operate on strike days.
“We have deployed about 8,000 troops in the city’s main centers and in the industrial areas to prevent any untoward incident,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said.
In the southeastern city of Chittagong the country’s biggest port continued to operate without disruption, Chittagong police chief Majeedul Haq added.
Officials in the southern district of Khulna, home to some of the country’s biggest state-owned jute and paper mills, reported little disruption.
“The mills are open and the train and ferry services have been uninterrupted. Only the inter-district bus service has been affected by the strike,” said Khulna Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khan Sayeed Hassan.
The strike is the 16th this year called by opposition parties. Last year the main opposition Awami League and its allies called more than 20 shutdowns, despite pleas from aid donors and business groups which say the strikes cost the poor nation’s economy millions of dollars each year.
— Additional input from agencies
