Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student front of ruling Awami League, has been enjoying full control in the residential halls of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) as the university administration has control over only 4.41 per cent of total seats.
It was seen in an investigation that some six factions of the BCL’s SUST unit control about 79 per cent of the total seats at the dormitories while 4.41 per cent of seats are under the control of the university authority and the remaining ones under some other student organisations.
General students alleged that the BCL leaders decide who the seats will be allotted to. Surprisingly, the university authorities, in some cases, refer some students to the BCL leaders with recommendations for allowing them in the halls and managing seats for them. If the students do not attend the political programmes as per the seniors’ instructions, there is a fear that they might have to lose the residential seats.
Md Anwarul Islam, treasurer of the SUST, told Prothom Alo that the authorities allot seats at the residential halls as per applications from students. But some of them do not show interest in staying at the residential halls as they have to belong to one of the groups.
On the flip side, some stay or want to stay at the halls under the ruling party. It is quite impossible for the university authority to eliminate this trend, he added.
Some three male residential halls of the university have a total of 1,042 seats. The BCL tightened its grip over the halls soon after Awami League assumed power in 2009. Six BCL factions distributed the seats among themselves through negotiation. The then BCL leaders left the campus long ago, but their successors retained the political legacy and have now been controlling the seats.
However, provosts of all three halls claimed it is the university administration that allocates the seats, not the BCL or other student leaders.
Mizanur Rahman, Samiul Islam, and Shah Arefin Nobel, provosts of respectively Shah Paran Hall, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, and Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall of SUST, told Prothom Alo that the authorities verify the applications of students and allot seats accordingly.
On 16 January, Prothom Alo carried a report on 80pc seats under BCL occupation at SUST. The scenario was found unchanged on Sunday, even after six months of the report.
Some 822 seats of the three halls are now under the control of the BCL. The faction led by former environment affairs secretary of SUST BCL, Khalilur Rahman, control 120 seats while followers of former deputy office secretary Sajibur Rahman control 130 seats and social science faculty vice president Mamun Shah 148 seats. Apart from that, there are 76 seats under BCL leaders Suman Sarker and Tarek Halimi and 168 seats under chemistry department BCL president Mehedi Hasan and former mass education secretary of SUST BCL Rubel Farhan.
This correspondent talked to Khalilur Rahman, Sajibur Rahman, Ashraf Kamal, Mamun Shah, Tarek Halimi and Mehedi Hasan. They claimed that the seats were allotted to the students legally and they later engaged in the politics of different organisations, including the BCL.
Mehedi Hasan also claimed that the students attend the political rallies willingly and there is no compulsion.
However, a BCL leader said on condition of anonymity that it has long been fixed how many seats a group will control. They got control over the seats from their seniors.
Apart from the BCL, some other student fronts also control the seats. A total of 166 seats of the residential halls have been under the control of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, NDF, two factions of Tablig Jamaat, and some campus journalists. And finally, the university administration controls only 54 residential seats.