Staff Reporter:

Rabindra University students on Thursday threatened to go for mass-hunger strike, if their demands are not met at the ECNEC meeting on August 17. They warned it before withdrawal of their blockade from the western toll plaza of the Jamuna Bridge in Sirajganj district.

After withdrawn of the blockade, the road communication was restored and plying of vehicles was resumed.

Drivers and commuters said, due to the blockade, traffic on the Dhaka-North Bengal highway was closed for about an hour and a half. This caused hardship to passengers from about 22 districts. After the blockade was lifted, communication started to return to normal.

According to the sources, a day after a six-hour blockade of railway tracks on Wednesday agitating students of Rabindra University on Thursday blocked the Jamuna bridge toll plaza, halting road communication between Dhaka and the northern districts.

Demanding permanent campus for their university, the students blocked the toll plaza intersection around 11:50am placing barricades on the country’s busiest bridge, said Officer-in-Charge of Jamuna Bridge Western Zone Police Station Asaduzzaman.

Vehicular movement through the Jamuna bridge came to a standstill, leaving a huge number of vehicles stranded on the both sides.

The blockade caused long tailbacks on both the western and eastern approaches to one of the busiest road communication routes in the country. Around 20,000 to 22,000 vehicles use the Jamuna bridge daily, connecting Dhaka with 22 districts, including 16 northern districts.

Earlier, the students began their agitation on July 26, boycotting the “University Day” programme to demand approval of the Development Project Proposal (DPP) for the university.

The agitating students said they would continue their movement until their demand is fulfilled.

The Tk 519 crore project (DPP) has already been placed for approval at the upcoming ECNEC meeting.

The students said, they have been continuously holding their programmes since July 26. They will go on a mass hunger strike if their demands are not met at the ECNEC meeting on August 17.