Traffic goes haywire as students take to streets for 2nd day
DEATH OF two STUDENTS in capital
STAFF REPORTER
Students of different colleges in the capital, including those from Shahid Ramizuddin Cantonment College, came out on the streets for the second consecutive day yesterday to protest against Sundays deaths of two students by a bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan which ran over them on the footpath. Vehicular movement on the Banani-Airport road remained suspended from 11am to 4pm on account of the blockade causing sufferings for thousands of commuters.
The students demanded announced a nine-point charter of demands including capital punishment for the reckless driver and resignation of Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan MP, also the executive president of the Transport Workers Federation.
The students continued their protests for some five hours yesterday till 3:45pm, before the police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel chased them away from the busy roads of the capital. The students, however, vowed even more intensive protests if their demands are not met in the next 24 hours.
Witnesses said several hundred students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment School and College took to the streets around 10:30am and put up a barricade on the busy road, disrupting traffic movement.
Saidul Islam Aapon, student of Shahid Ramizuddin Cantonment College, said, We have placed
a nine-point charter of demands over the death of our classmates. Our demands will be accepted within 24 hours and implemented within seven days. If the demands are not fulfilled, our movement will start tomorrow morning.
The nine-point charter of demands of the students includes: The reckless driver should be hanged and such punishment for them should be added to the Constitution; the shipping minister will withdraw the statement he had issued earlier about the accident and seek an unconditional apology from the students; the government has to build a foot-overbridge or an alternative safe mode of conveyance for the students; speed-breakers have to be built in every area where an accident occurs; the government has to take responsibility for students killed in road mishaps; buses should stop after students signal to them; not just in Dhaka but half fare for students has to be arranged all over the country; no driver cannot drive without licence; no vehicle can run on the roads without fitness certificate; extra passengers cannot be taken on the bus.
Student sources said a team of representative students held a meeting with the law enforcement agencies and the college authorities at the college after the students placed their demands.
The students demanded justice, holding up banners and chanting slogans. Dhaka College and Dhaka City College students, too, blocked the Science Laboratory intersection for about an hour.
Earlier in the day, when the students were standing in the human chain on the road leading to Shahid Ramizuddin Cantonment College, the police obstructed them. The irate students tried to block the road in front of Kurmitola General Hospital but the police intimidated them there as well.
Later, at around 11am, the protesting students gathered again in front of Shahid Ramizuddin Cantonment College and blockaded the road. The law enforcers surrounded them at that time. Policemen tried to shift the demonstrators away from the road but failed as the protesting students held their ground.
Students of different educational institutions joined in the protests. Around noon, students from BAF Shaheen College, Bhashantek Government College, Adamjee Cantonment School and College, Tejgaon College, Bangla College, Government Science College and other educational institutions also participated in the protests. They closed the Airport Road on both sides.
Traffic on the important Dhaka thoroughfare was blocked for around six hours, said police officials.
There were traffic snarls throughout the capital because of the blockade. No transport was available from Mohakhali to Banani during this time. Passengers got down from buses and walked to their destinations. On the other hand, massive traffic congestion was seen from Jahangir Gate flyover to Banani. Commuters across the capital suffered all day long.
MK
