Demand to launch BRT within three to four months, protesters occupy highway at Bhogra against cancellation
Photo: Collected
Local residents formed a human chain, taking position on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in the city’s Bhogra Bypass area at 11am today (Thursday), demanding that Gazipur’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) be launched within three to four months. They are angry at the decision to scrap the project when it is almost complete, after thousands of crores of taka in spending and years of suffering. The programme was held under the banner of ‘Sachetan Nagorik Oikya, Gazipur’.
Ali Naser Khan, chief organiser of the central executive committee of the National Citizen Party (NCP), spoke at the programme.
By Ali Naser Khan’s reckoning, only 3 per cent of the BRT work remains. Spending Tk 1,400 crore to finish that and buy 187 buses would get the project fully up and running.
He alleged that a contractor syndicate, a syndicate of ‘murir tin’ rickety bus operators, local MPs and corrupt BNP leaders were using their influence over the bureaucracy to get the project scrapped through a single decision of a secretary, without any discussion.
Ali Naser Khan said it took 14 years to get the project built, and it will now take another five years to tear it down. There is talk of building a six-lane road in future; then vehicles will run on three lanes while demolition work goes on in the other three.
Ali Naser Khan believes this will again leave Gazipur’s people suffering severe traffic congestion. He said the region will lose investment, and the way will also be blocked for new institutions such as schools, colleges, universities and hospitals. This will ruin Gazipur’s development prospects.
Putting their demand to the government, Ali Naser Khan said the BRT should be launched within the next three to four months after the necessary repairs; otherwise they will hold a series of resistance programmes.
Mosharraf Hossain, who took part in the human chain, said, ‘Scrapping the rapid transit BRT project will only add to our suffering. We demand that those concerned in the government think about this. The government has spent Tk 3,000 crore on this project. Tearing it down will waste even more money. So we urge the government to think deeply and reconsider its decision.’
Another participant, Monir Hossain, said, ‘We, the people of Gazipur, have been suffering for 14 long years. The government should take its decision even if it takes some more time. Our protest will continue. We want it launched to end the suffering of the people of Gazipur.’
Background
According to a 14 June report by bdnews24.com, the BRT project was taken up in December 2012; it covers the 20.5-kilometre route from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Gazipur, and its deadline has been extended five times.
The same report said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired a meeting on the project’s progress, implementation and likely benefits, where experts gave their views on its design, station management and operating structure.
Background source: bdnews24.com, 14 June 2026
