BUP student's death restarts safe road movement

Students of various institutions and local people have blocked the road in front of Jamuna Future Park to protest against the death of a student of Bangladesh University of Professionals in a road accident.

The victim, Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, 20, son of Arif Ahmed Chowdhury, was run over by a 'Suprobhat Paribahan' bus around 7:30am on Tuesday, said police.

Angered by the accident, the students from BUP, North South University, Independent University of Bangladesh, American International University of Bangladesh and others blocked the road demanding safe roads and justice for Abrar.

They chanted slogans for implementation of their eight-point demand. Their demands included the punishment of the bus driver, enforcing stringent criteria for bus driver licences, use of zebra crossings, and installing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in front of the road crossings, and setting up a foot overbridges in front of Pragati Sarani.

Dhaka North City Corporation's (DNCC) mayor Atiqul Islam went to the area and talked to the protesting students around 11:00am. He requested the demonstrators to withdraw their blockade.

"We'll take every action. Withdraw the road blockade," he said.

The demonstrators, however, did not pay any heed to his request. Instead, they asked him why Jebel-e-Noor Paribahan buses still ply on Dhaka roads.

A bus of Jebel-e-Noor Paribahan ran over and killed two college students, sparking off the hard-hitting student movement for safe roads in 2018.