JU protesters besiege admin buildings
Stage demo against ‘corruption in unplanned dev work’ on campus
Students and teachers of Jahangirnagar University yesterday besieged the two administrative buildings protesting “corruption of the authorities” and “unplanned” development works which would endanger the biodiversity of the campus.
The protesters also blocked all entrances to the buildings.
Some 250 protesters, including 30 teachers of different departments, took position in front of the old and the new administrative buildings under the banner of a newly formed platform “Jahangirnagar Against Corruption” around 7:30am as part of their day-long programme.
During the protest, they also staged a street play titled “Ekti Non-Fiction” that showcased various irregularities in handling the ongoing projects of the university.
JU Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam was not in her office during the demonstration.
Talking to The Daily Star, Prof Mirza Taslima Sultana of Anthropology department who took part in the protest said, “We expected that the university authorities would take a participatory masterplan based on the interests of different stakeholders.
“But all we found was an incomplete plan,” she added.
JU acting proctor ASM Firoz Ul Hasan, the only administrative member who showed up on the protest spot, said, “It’s illogical that the protesters didn’t allow us to open the proctor office. We tried several times to convince them, but they didn’t pay any heed to us.”
Later, the protesters brought out a procession around 1:30pm and roamed around the campus chanting various slogans criticising the authorities.
Ashikur Rahman, president of Jahangirnagar Cultural Alliance, said they would continue the blockade programme until Thursday.
The agitated students have been demonstrating on the campus since August 23 demanding the relocation of three male students’ dormitories which the authorities planned to construct near Rabindranath Hall, and judicial probe into the allegations of corruption and irregularities took place before the approval of these mega projects.
Meanwhile, 17 out of 25 registered graduates of the university yesterday issued a statement urging the chancellor of the university, who is also the president of Bangladesh, and the education ministry to resolve the crisis.