The Government will have a meeting on Monday with transport owners to re-fix fares following re-adjustment of fuel prices. Earlier, on April 25, the Government had reduced the prices of petrol-octane by Tk.10 per litre and diesel-kerosene by Tk.3. “Since fuel prices have been lowered, transport fares should also go down. A decision will be taken on Monday after meeting transport owners at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) office,” Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader told Reporters while visiting the construction work of an underpass at Tetuibari on the Nabinagar-Chandra highway yesterday. The minister’s remark came following demands for reduction of transport fares by different organisations, which staged human chains and rallies shortly after the fall of fuel prices. The minister said that whenever fuel prices were increased, the transport owners have raised fares. So, with the latest lowering of fuel prices, the fares should also go down.
The minister also remarked on the recent spate of killings by suspected militants. He criticised US Secretary of State John Kerry’s phone call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday on the Kalabagan double murder. “Killings take place in the USA also. A Bangladeshi couple living in California was murdered at their residence. Kerry showed no concern about that but telephoned Bangladesh’s Prime Minister on the Kalabagan murder and gave a statement,” Obaidul Quader said and added that the recent killings were organised and the Government is serious about the issue. “There is no scope of letting any of the killers go scot free,” he said. Commenting on the on-going Union Parishad (UP) polls, the minister claimed that the elections are being held in a fair manner. “Except for a few stray incidents, the first phase of UP polls was fair but there were violent incidents during the second phase. The third phase was more or less peaceful and I hope that the next phases will also be like the 3rd phase,” Obaidul Quader, who is also a Presidium Member of the ruling Awami League, said. Superintendent Engineer of Roads and Highways Sabuj Uddin Khan, Executive Engineer of Manikganj Mohibul Huq and Deputy Chief Engineer of Gazipur zone KBM Saddam Hossain were present, among others, during the minister’s visit.