People suffer as students block Dhaka-Sylhet highway
The students of Narsingdi Textile Engineering College have blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in protest of the decision to close the college, ignoring the demand to bring the college under the jurisdiction of the Department of Textiles from Bangladesh Handloom Board.
The students have been blocking the road at the Sahe Pratap area of Narsingdi Sadar upazila since 12:00 pm Tuesday.
Meanwhile, movement of long-haul buses and trucks was snapped due to the blockade leading to 10 km tailback on either side of the road. It has created immense suffering for the passengers.
According to the police and the locals, the students thronged the Sahepratap intersection chanting different slogans around 12:00 pm. They blocked the road there ignoring the police request to move away from the road.
The demonstrating students say they have long been demanding transfer of their college under the jurisdiction of the Department of Textiles.
However, instead of considering their demand, the government has decided to close down the college and run the academic activities of the college at the Kalihati Engineering College campus, which is quite insulting for the students. The students will not accept the government decision to close down the college.
The demonstrators further said they have been in a movement to press home their demand for a long time. As part of their movement, they held meetings with the higher authorities and human chain in Dhaka several times. Although the authorities assured them of meeting their demand, they haven’t taken any initiative. They now demand to bring the Narsingdi Textile Engineering College under the jurisdiction of the Department of Textiles and run the academic activities in Narsingdi.
Upon hearing the news, Narsingdi deputy commissioner Mohammad Rashed Chowdhury and superintendent of police (SP) Abdul Hannan came to the spot with local army camp members to convince the students to move away from the road. However, the students were still demonstrating blocking the road at the time of filing this report around 3:00 pm.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, DC Mohammad Rashed Chowdhury said, “We came here to convince the students to move away from the road. Efforts are underway to persuade the students to lift the blockade."
Earlier, the students had demonstrated blocking the road at the same place on 9 December. Later on 6 January, they kept Handloom Board chairman Abu Ahmed Siddique and at least 15 others in confinement at the seminar room of the college from 3:00 pm. The officials were released around 9:00 pm that night at the intervention of the SP and on duty army officers.