Roni calls off protest for now

Dhaka University student Mohiuddin Roni last night postponed his protest against mismanagement and corruption in the country's railway system, for the time being as the authorities concerned assured him of meeting his demands.

He made the decision after a four-hour meeting with the railway officials at the railway building at 9:45pm.

"Railway Secretary Humayun Kabir and Director General Dhirendra Nath Mazumder promised to keep me in the follow-up in implementing my six-point demand. I took this decision to keep the country's situation normal and to prevent any third party from taking advantage of my movement to create unrest," Roni said.

Roni suspended his movement after 19 days. He, however, said if he sees any irregularities in implementing his demands, he will resume his movement.

On July 7, he took to the streets with a six-point demand for ending mismanagement and corruption in the railway system, after he failed to book Dhaka-Rajshahi train tickets online on June 13.

He alleged that the ticket money was deducted from his bKash account, but he did not get a seat on the train nor was he given a receipt. He filed a complaint with the authorities concerned the next day, which was left pending for a month.

Students from different parts of the country joined his movement separately.

On July 20, the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection fined online ticketing platform Shohoz for its negligence in selling tickets.

The High Court on the same day asked Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik and ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan to inquire about the steps taken on the issue.

This is not the first time Roni stood up against mismanagement and irregularities.

In April, he started a hunger strike for the modernisation of the university's medical centre, after not being satisfied with its facilities.

Following his 77-hour strike, the university authorities developed washroom facilities, increased medicinal amenities, set up an information desk at the entrance and took initiatives to meet his other demands.

He is also involved in various social and voluntary organisations like -- Rover Scout, National Children Task Force, and the fire service.

Roni is now the coordinator of the Dhaka unit of "Youth Ending Hunger" and an active member of "BD Clean".

He recently launched "Green Happy Birthday Campaign" to create awareness regarding climate change. One of his campaigns "Makeup Our Power", focused on women empowerment, and was selected as one of the best ideas in the "Top Ten Project Ideas" by the British Council during the pandemic.

"Roni has always been vocal against different irregularities and engaged himself with various forms of social work," Asif Khan, a senior-year student of Arabic, told The Daily Star.