JnU students continue demo
JnU students continue demo
Want removal of BB branch from campus
Jagannath University students staged a sit-in in front of Bangladesh Bank, Sadarghat branch in the capital for five hours today demanding removal of the branch office from the campus.
Following the agitation, vehicular movement remained suspended on the Sadarghat-Gulistan road till 3:00pm.
Many people were trapped inside the bank while none was allowed to enter the building following the student agitation.
Around 10:00am, hundreds of JnU students gathered in front of the main gate of the bank branch and started the sit-in programme, said Md Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station.
They also ransacked a boundary wall of the branch at one stage of their sit-in around 11:00am.
The agitating students also recovered a plot of land used as a hawkers’ market allotted by Samabay Bank there and hanged a signboard of proposed Teachers Students Centre of the university.
They concluded their sit-in for today around 3:00pm after issuing a three-day ultimatum to the Bangladesh Bank authorities to move the branch from the campus.
The students are simultaneously continuing their agitation for the recovery of its 11 dormitories -- all in Old Dhaka -- from illegal occupation under the banner of “Jagannath Bishwabidyalayer Bedakhal Howa Hall Uddhar Sangram Parishad”.
Sirajul Islam, secretary member of the parishad and general secretary if Bangladesh Chhatra League, JnU unit, told The Daily Star yesterday that the students have been demanding the removal of the bank branch to bring the building under the JnU management.
The university students have been demonstrating since February 12 for recovering the halls that have been under "illegal occupation" of influential people, including police, a lawmaker and local Awami League leaders, for about three decades.
In February 1985, the old town people attacked all the halls and ousted the students of the then Jagannath College, alleging that the students were causing various problems in the area such as harassing local girls, extorting money from businessmen and doing drug business.
In face of the student movement, the education ministry yesterday formed a committee in efforts to recover the occupied Jagannath University halls.
The demonstrators have also been demanding withdrawal of the officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station and the deputy commissioner (Lalbagh) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police for assaulting the agitating students on February 23.
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