Demand for safe roads rings louder
Demanding justice over the recent death of a university student in a Dhaka road accident, students demonstrated across the country yesterday.
Rajshahi University students rallied for one and a half hours on Dhaka-Rajshahi highway in front of the campus, seeking road safety, reports our staff correspondent from Rajshahi.
Traffic movement on the highway remained suspended for the entire duration of the programme, where students held placards to press an eight-point demand, including capital punishment for those responsible for the death.
Their other demands include installing close circuit cameras at level crossings, footbridges at Kajla and Binodpur and other important points on highways in the district, and removal of vehicle stoppages from educational institutions.
The students said they will keep demonstrating until the demands are met.
Our CU correspondent adds, several hundred students of Chittagong University formed a human chain on the campus, demanding safe roads.
They also protested police action on them while they were protesting another accident.
Mehedi Hasan, a fourth year student of the Statistics department at Chittagong University, was injured when a vehicle hit him at Gate no. 1 area on Wednesday. He was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
Following the incident, students from various departments of the university blockaded the Chattogram-Rangamati road around 12:30am.
However, police dispersed the agitating students charging them with batons, alleged Maruf Islam, a master's student of International Relations department.
He also demanded punishment for the law enforcers involved in the action that injured two students.
The demonstrators also urged the government to take necessary measures to bring discipline on the roads so that no more precious lives are lost.
On Tuesday, a university student was killed as a bus ran him over while he was reportedly walking through a zebra crossing near the capital's Bashundhara Residential Area, igniting a firestorm of protests.
The victim, Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, himself a road safety campaigner, met this tragic end while Dhaka Metropolitan Police was observing traffic week to bring discipline on the city streets.
Abrar was a first-year honours student at Bangladesh University of Professionals.
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