Farmers block highway, assault UNO

Farmers failing to get fertiliser blocked Dhaka-Aricha Road for an hour and a half yesterday at Uthuli bus stand in Shibalaya upazila in Manikganj and assaulted the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) twice.
They also confined the UNO and a fertiliser dealer to shops at the bus stand.
Sources said the farmers went to the shop of fertiliser dealer Ashraful Islam Raja to buy urea in the morning but the dealer refused to sell as the upazila administration, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the union parishad (UP) chairman and members failed to distribute slips to farmers on the basis of which the dealer should sell fertiliser.
Farmers usually receive slips from the authorities mentioning their fertiliser requirements and the urea is sold to them according to the amount mentioned on the slip.
At this, around 500 farmers went to the highway and blocked it at 11:50am disrupting road communications between Dhaka and south-western districts. It also created a traffic jam as hundreds of vehicles made long queues on both sides of the highway.
UNO Soleman Khan and a DAE official went to the spot but the angry farmers assaulted the UNO. The DAE official managed to flee. The farmers then confined the UNO and the dealer to two separate shops.
A district administration team comprising Assistant Deputy Commissioner Salauddin Ahmed and Deputy Director of DAE Mokbul Hossain Talukder went to the spot around 1:20pm and brought the situation under control with the help of police and by assuring them of giving fertiliser. They also rescued the UNO from the shop.
Superintendent of Police of Manikganj Imtiaz Ahmed supervised the resumption of vehicular movement.
The district administration officials tried to sit with the farmers to discuss the matter but the farmers refused to talk. A farmer alleged that they have been trying to get fertiliser for seven days.
They said the UP chairmen and members were making delays in distributing the slips and alleged they were selling fertiliser at night at higher price.
Later, Lt Col Fakhrul Ahsan, Major Shafi and Captain Arif of the joint forces went to the spot and rescued the fertiliser dealer. Lt Col Fakhrul Ahsan assured the farmers of giving fertiliser. He also asked for the distribution of 200 sacks of urea to each of the nine wards in Uthuli Union.
However, farmers at Nayabari in the upazila again assaulted the UNO in the evening when he went there to distribute fertiliser.