Selim Talukder, Shahzadpur:

Students Rabindra University on Sunday staged demonstrations again by blocking the Hatikumurl roundabout on the Dhaka-North Bengal highway and hanging lock at the administrative building of the university demanding to speedy approval and implementation of the Development Project Proposal (DPP) for the construction of its permanent campus.

Due to the students’ movement, severe traffic congestion was created on the highway halting vehicular movements between about 22 districts in the northern region.

Earlier, on Thursday (August 7), around 12:00pm, the students gave a 48-hour ultimatum to fulfill their demands from an hour-long human chain at the Hatikumrul roundabout area in the district.

The agitating students stated tHat, they are being forced to go for such as tougher movement due to silence role of the interim government in this regard even after holding several agitation programmes for the last few days.

Hatikumrul Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdur Rouf said tHat, “Following the blockade, vehicle movement on the Dhaka-Pabna, Dhaka-Rajshahi and Dhaka-Bogura highways were suspended.

We however, tried to help some vehicles to cross the place by using alternative ways.”

“The blockade was part of an escalating protest against the government’s delay in approving the Development Project Proposal (DPP) for the university’s permanent campus,” he added.

According to university sources, the current number of students in five departments (Bengali, Sociology, Economics, Music and Management) is more than 1,200. The university is running its academic and administrative activities in two rented buildings including Shahjadpur Women’s College and Saifuddin Yahia Degree College with 34 teachers, 54 officers and 107 employees. However, despite repeated submissions of project proposals to build its own campus, it has not yet been approved due to negligence of the government.

Protesting student Mizanur Rahman said tHat, “The University’s academic activities started in 2018. Even after nine years of its establishment, a permanent campus has not yet been built. The government has not allocated a single Taka for this. However, the permanent campus is supposed to be built on the Khas land (demesne) under Rabindranath Tagore’s then Zamindari estate.”

He further said, “It is possible to build an aesthetic campus there without any hassle of land acquisition and damage of the environment. Even after so many years, no money has been allocated for the construction of the campus. After amending the DPP seven times in a row, the Rabindra University administration presented the latest DPP of Tk 519.15 crore, keeping in mind the current government’s cost- austerity policy, which was discussed in the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting on May 7 this year. Later, on June 16, Environment Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan visited the site. Still, no work is being done. As a result, university students are suffering from various problems including classroom shortage, housing shortage and insecurity. This is why, we want immediate implementation of the project for the sake of students and teachers.”

Students have warned they will intensify their movement if the project is not approved and implemented without further delay.