Thousands of students from various universities blocked roads and highways in places across the country on Wednesday for the third consecutive day, demanding the cancellation of the High Court order to restore 30 per cent quota for children and grandchildren of freedom fighters in government jobs.
Students of Dhaka University blocked the Shahbagh intersection, Jahangirnagar University students blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway, Barishal University students blocked the Barishal-Patuakhali-Kuakata highway, Chittagong University students blocked the Chattogram-Khagrachari Highway, and Bangladesh Agricultural University students blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh railway.
People from all walks of life, meanwhile, suffered immensely due to traffic gridlocks caused by disruption in vehicular movement in busy areas.聽聽聽
Starting from in front of the Central Library of Dhaka University at about 2:30pm, about 5,000 students of the DU and its seven affiliated colleges marched around the university campus, the vice-chancellor鈥檚 residence, Teacher-Student Centre, Doyel Chattar, the High Court, and the Matsya Bhaban intersection before taking their position at Shahbagh at around 3:30pm.
Traffic on roads at Shahbagh, one of the busiest areas, came to a standstill as the students blocked the area until around 5:00pm, the DU correspondent for 抖阴精品 reported.
Nahid Islam, the coordinator of the anti-quota movement, said, 鈥榃e will start our programme at 11:00am on Thursday.鈥�
Several hundred students of Jahangirnagar University blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway for about one hour and a half, starting from 3:30pm, which created about five kilometres of tailbacks on both lanes of the country鈥檚 one of the busiest highways, 抖阴精品 JU Correspondent reported.
During the blockade, the protesters blocked the way of the lawmaker from Savar-Ashulia constituency Md Saiful Islam and his convoy of vehicles for about an hour.
The students also protested at the education minister鈥檚 remark 鈥榯he generation of the freedom fighters only believes in the spirits of the War of Independence鈥�.
鈥楴eutral recruitment process in jobs is the only solution to address the growing unemployment problem in the country. Introducing such a plan is nothing but discrimination against the majority people during a vulnerable economic situation of the country鈥�, said, Jahidul Islam, a protesting student.
抖阴精品 Correspondent at Barishal University reported that students held a human chain programme wearing shrouds in front of the main gate of the university at about 11:00am and later blocked the Barishal-Patuakhali-Kuakata highway for about two hours from 12 noon.
The blockade, meanwhile, caused traffic jams on the highway connecting Barishal, Bhola, Patuakhali, and Barguna districts and Nalchity upazila of Jhalakati.
抖阴精品 staff correspondent in Chattogram reported that students of Chattogram University also blocked the Chattogram-Khagrachatri Highway at gate 1 at about 12:45pm and continued the blockade for 45 minutes.
Students of Bangladesh Agricultural University, meanwhile, blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh railway line at Jabbar Crossing for about an hour, starting from 1:20pm, following a protest rally on their campus.聽聽聽
Imran Mia, a protester, said, 鈥榃e will announce more programmes if the verdict does not go in our favour.鈥櫬�
The Mohua commuter train was also forced to stop for an hour due to the blockade, according to sub-inspector Dipak Pal of Mymensingh Railway Police Station.
The protesting students raised four-point demand that included cancelling the High Court order that restored the quota system, upholding the 2018 government circular, ensuring merit-based recruitment in the public service, giving appointment to qualified candidates from the merit list if any eligible candidates are not found in quotas for marginalised communities.
On June 5, the HC asked the government to restore the 30 per cent quota for children and grandchildren of the freedom fighters in government jobs that sparked fresh protests at the universities.
On October 4, 2018, the government issued a circular abolishing all the 56 per cent quotas in the public service in the wake of street protests by the public university students and jobseekers demanding reforms to the quota system introduced in 1972.
Until the abolition, about 56 per cent of government jobs were reserved for candidates from various quotas. Of them, 30 per cent were for freedom fighters鈥� children and grandchildren, 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for people of underdeveloped districts, 5 per cent for ethnic communities and 1 per cent for physically challenged people.
