Job seekers vandalise ASA office, 5 hurt

Jobseekers are throwing brick chips at ASA Tower at the capital's Shyamoli yesterday, following alleged misconduct by the non-government organisation. Police say over 20,000 people, inset, turned up to attend an interview for the posts of loan officers in the morning.Photo: STAR

Several thousand job seekers vandalised ASA Tower at the city's Shyamoli yesterday as the non-government organisation, ASA, was delaying in starting a scheduled job interview.
The agitators also clashed with ASA employees and students of ASA University, leaving five security guards injured.
For the demonstration, traffic movement on the Mirpur Road got halted several times from 10:30am till 2:30pm when the situation came under police control.
As the ASA authorities postponed the interview, the job seekers alleged that the organisation deceived them by collecting registration fees and not holding the interview later.
Fayjur Rahman, an official of ASA, said the interview was delayed as the number of candidates exceeded their expectation.
He said the authorities thought some 4000-5000 persons would arrive for the interview.
Mahmudul Islam, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station, said around 20,000 applicants thronged Ananda School, located behind ASA Tower, to appear at the test.
The interview for the post of loan officer was scheduled for 10:00am, but the authorities sent some applicants to ASA Tower due to accommodation problem at the school, he said.
As the authorities delayed in starting the interview at ASA Tower, the job seekers started throwing masonry at the building around 10:30am.
“Most of the job seekers came to attend the interview from distant places in accordance with an advertisement published in newspapers", said the OC.
"The ASA authorities took Tk 50 from each of the candidates for registration. As the venue was shifted, the candidates thought that ASA deceived them and will postpone the exam”.
ASA official Fayjur claimed that the authorities postponed the interview for the candidates' unruly act. ASA did not take any extra fee from the applicants, he added.
The authorities will hold the interview at division levels from March 16 to April 13, he said.