Local transport workers have refused for five days to carry government food grain from the Narayanganj silo food warehouse at Siddhirganj, in a dispute with contractors over transport fares, disrupting government food supply, Samakal reported.
At about 9:30am on Thursday, when contractors brought in trucks hired from elsewhere, workers of the Narayanganj silo branch of the Bangladesh Inter-District Truck, Covered Van and Mini-Truck Workers' Union blocked them at the gate. Police from Siddhirganj station calmed the situation.
Md Shah Alam, general secretary of the union's silo branch, said more than 100 trucks a day carry grain from the silo to warehouses around the country. Fuel and other running costs have risen, he said, yet contractors are paying Tk 2,000 to 3,000 less per truck than before; until the fare is adjusted the workers will stay off the job.
The contractors say they cannot pay more than the rates fixed in the government tender. Md Abdul Hai Raju, president of the Central Food Supply Contractors' Association, said a group was inciting the workers; with rice, wheat and other essential food not moving for five days, he called for a quick investigation and action to restore transport.
Sub-inspector Shah Alam of Siddhirganj police station said the workers' trucks are still idle, but contractors are keeping supplies moving with outside vehicles, which can now enter without obstruction. The superintendent of the Narayanganj silo, Riazul Alam, did not comment.
In the contractors' leader's words, the silo and food warehouses are among the government's most important facilities, and a halt there risks disrupting the government's food supply.
Photo: The steel rice silo in Narayanganj (6 October 2026), Press Information Department / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: Samakal
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