Construction of Sheikh Russel School at RU comes to a halt
Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Rajshahi University (RU) unit allegedly halted construction work of Sheikh Russel School at the university campus yesterday, as the contractor did not pay extortion to them.
Momtaz Uddin Don, a supervisor of the construction work, told The Daily Star that Golam Kibria and Faisal Ahmed Runu, president and general secretary of RU BCL, had been attempting to extort Tk 30 lakh as their firm is in charge of the construction project, worth Tk 10 crore 59 lakh.
The four-storey school is being built in front of Zuberi Building on the campus. Sikder Construction started the work in July 30, said Momtaz Uddin.
He said, “In the first week of August, BCL president and general secretary with five to seven other leaders came to the project site and asked why we started the work without informing BCL leaders. Then they demanded Tk 30 lakh.”
“I told them they cannot demand such money, and the school is named after the prime minister’s brother Sheikh Russel. They left the place but warned us not to start the work until their demand is met,” said Momtaz.
Since that day, BCL leaders have been visiting the site and continuously threatening them for the money as they did not stop the work, alleged Momtaz.
Meanwhile yesterday, two BCL leaders allegedly came to the site and again told workers to stop the construction. When they denied, BCL leaders tried to attack one of the workers, said manager of the project Ashraful Alam.
Ashraful Alam said, “They asked me how much money we can pay now, if we can not pay Tk 30 lakh. They also told me to request my bosses to discuss the matter with BCL, and stop the construction work till then.”
“Following the matter, we stopped the work this afternoon,” said Shafikul Islam, head of the workers yesterday.
The RU BCL president and general secretary, however, denied the allegations. Golam Kibria said it is a false allegation to tarnish the image of BCL.
Faisal Ahmed Runu said, “No BCL men are involved in such incident. We even do not know anything about the construction work.”
Contacted, Chief Engineer of the university Abul Kalam Azad said, “I heard about a problem at the construction site, but I don’t know anything about any extortion.”
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