Transportation services resuming nationwide following government's promise of assurance
The Bangladesh Transport Owners-Workers Coordination Council has withdrawn a 72-hour nationwide transport strike, following assurances from the government regarding their eight-point charter of demands. The strike, which was scheduled to begin on 12 August, was called off after a meeting between transport owners and government officials at the Bidyut Bhaban in Dhaka on 10 August.
The eight-point charter includes several key demands, such as amendments to Sections 98 and 105 of the Road Transport Act 2018, which the transport owners claim are excessively punitive towards drivers and transport workers. Another demand is to extend the economic life of commercial vehicles from the current 20-25 years to up to 30 years.
Other demands include allowing older vehicles to operate based on fitness tests instead of outright bans, withdrawing the proposed double advance income tax, increasing the import age limit for reconditioned commercial vehicles to 12 years, ensuring that vehicles seized after accidents are returned to owners within 72 hours, formulating a scrapping policy for expired vehicles, creating separate lanes for three-wheelers on highways, and speeding up the issuance and renewal of driving licenses.
The leaders also called for implementing the workers' federation's existing 12-point demand. The meeting was chaired by Fazlul Kabir Khan, adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
While the strike has been called off, there is no detailed public update confirming that all demands have been met or legally amended yet. The withdrawal indicates a step toward negotiation and potential resolution, but the actual status of each demand's fulfillment is still evolving as of mid-August 2025.
The government has promised to review the transport owners' demands, and it remains to be seen whether they will be able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement in the coming weeks.
In light of the withdrawal of the nationwide transport strike, discussions are underway between the government and transport owners to address financial and business aspects in the industry, such as reevaluating the Road Transport Act 2018's punitive sections against drivers and workers, extending the economic life of commercial vehicles, and revising the double advance income tax. However, as of mid-August 2025, there is no public confirmation that all demands have been met or legally amended.
