Students of Jagannath University, agitating to recover encroached halls, have occupied a piece of land belonging to Bangladesh Samabay Bank Limited.
They declared setting up their ‘temporary Teacher Student Centre’ on that land on Tuesday.
The students also lay siege to the Bangladesh Bank’s Sadarghat branch located on the campus and put up a banner, written ‘Bangabandhu Academic Bhaban’, there.Traffic came to a halt on the Sadarghat road as several hundreds of students were seen demonstrating on the stretch from the university’s main entrance to Shakhari Bazar.
However, there was no major untoward incident.
The students started demonstrating by locking up Bangladesh Bank’s main entrance around 11.30am.
Later they put up a banner in front of the bank.
Shariful Islam, convener of a body demanding handing over of the hall to the university and president of the university unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, said the Bangladesh Bank’s branch was an obstacle to the university.
“From today it will be known as Bangabandhu Academic Bhaban.”
Around the same time, more than 300 teachers of the university took out a silent procession and formed a human chain demanding the same.
Later, they joined the agitating students who laid siege to the Bangladesh Bank branch.
Meanwhile, a group of students occupied a plot of land of Samabay Bank located opposite the main entrance of the university.
Witnesses said the agitating students broke open the gate of the plot and set furniture and other materials on fire.
They also broke the wall surrounding the land.
A unit of Sadarghat fire service station rushed to the spot to put out the fire but no police were seen there.
Sirajul Islam, member of the body demanding hall recovery and general secretary of the university unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, said, “From now on the land will be used as the temporary TSC.”
The students claimed once there was a hall on the land and its surrounding areas.
According to media reports and locals’ versions, nine student dormitories and a staff accommodation had been occupied by MPs, police, local influential and ruling Awami League leaders.
The government on Monday formed an eight-member committee headed by a Jatiya Party MP to find ways to recover the illegally occupied dormitories.
The committee has been asked to submit its report on what should be done in 30 workdays. – bdnews24.com
Related Posts
