The Habiganj Motor Group has called an indefinite transport strike in the district from 1 October, protesting alleged attacks on workers and the seizure and vandalism of buses operating on the Habiganj-Moulvibazar route.
All local and long-distance public transport in Habiganj will remain off the roads during the strike, said Habiganj Motor Group General Secretary Abu Moin Chowdhury Sohel on Tuesday.
He said buses have long been operating on the Habiganj-Sreemangal-Moulvibazar-Sherpur-Sylhet route.
However, a dispute between transport owners and workers in Habiganj and Moulvibazar began in October 2025 after transport operators from Moulvibazar allegedly obstructed buses from Habiganj.
The issue was later resolved following the intervention of Jatiya Sangsad Whip GK Gaus, with an agreement allowing Habiganj buses to resume their previous operations, Sohel said.
However, on 10 May this year, Moulvibazar’s SMS transport owners and workers allegedly stopped a Habiganj bus in Sherpur without prior communication, he said.
The incident reignited tensions between transport owners and workers from the two districts.
A meeting was subsequently held on 12 June at the office of the Sylhet divisional commissioner, chaired by Whip GK Gaus. Several lawmakers, the Sylhet City Corporation administrator, divisional administration officials, and transport owners’ and workers’ representatives from Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet attended the meeting.
The meeting decided that buses would operate on the Habiganj-Sylhet route via Moulvibazar, but they would not stop in Sreemangal.
Although services resumed under the agreement, Moulvibazar’s SMS transport owners and workers allegedly detained 22 Habiganj buses on 11 September, bringing services on the route to a halt again.
An attempt was made to resolve the dispute at a meeting held on 20 September at the central office of the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association in Dhaka.
The meeting was chaired by the association’s central secretary general Saiful Alam and attended by Humayun Kabir Khan, secretary general of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation’s central committee, along with transport owners’ and workers’ leaders from Habiganj and Moulvibazar.
The meeting reaffirmed the12 June decision allowing buses to operate between Habiganj and Sylhet via Moulvibazar. Following the meeting, SMS authorities in Moulvibazar released the previously detained Habiganj buses.
However, when bus services resumed on the route on 24 September, SMS transport owners in Moulvibazar allegedly detained three more Habiganj buses, Sohel said. The buses remain detained, he added.
Against this backdrop, the Habiganj Motor Group has announced the indefinite strike from the morning of 1 October. Sohel said they want Habiganj buses to operate freely on the route in accordance with the earlier agreements.
