Dhaka, May 25 -- The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity on Monday alleged that bus owners' failure to honour pledges against overcharging during Eid-ul-Azha has forced low-income workers onto unsafe vehicles, triggering a string of deadly road accidents.

In a statement, the organisation's Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury alleged that the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners' Association had promised not to charge excess fares ahead of the upcoming Eid, but their district and unit-level branches have since broken that commitment across numerous routes.

Unable to afford inflated bus fares, a group of labourers travelling from Chattogram to Naogaon resorted to riding atop a rod-laden truck, a journey that ended in tragedy when the veh...