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Titumir College students suspend protest programmes for 7 days

Rail communications were restored at about 9:50pm Monday after protesting Government Titumir College students had lifted their six-hour-long blockade of the Mohakhali rail crossing in the capital.

The students also announced suspension of their protest programme for the next seven days after a meeting with the ministry officials on Monday night.

Amid immense suffering of the passengers, the students blocked the rail tracks at about 3:45pm on the day, the fifth day of their blockade programme, halting train services between Dhaka and northern, eastern and southern districts.

They were demonstrating pressing for a seven-point demand, the main of which was transforming the institution into a university.

The students withdrew the blockade and broke hunger strike at about 9:40pm after a team from education ministry led by joint secretary Nuruzzaman came to the spot and assured them that the ministry would take initiative to address their six-point demands except transforming the college into a university.

The ministry representatives after their meeting with the protesting students addressed the protesters and journalists present at the spot that they would work to address six points of the demands of the Titumir students.

In a gap of a week, this was the second instance of snapping of the rail communications between Dhaka and almost the rest of the country for long hours as on January 28 the railway running staff went on a 30-hour strike to press home their demands. Train operations resumed on January 29 with their lifting of their strike.

Vehicular movement on Monday also remained at halt at the Mohakhali level crossing, one of the city’s most heavily crowded points, which connects the northern part of the capital  with the southern one, amid additional deployment of law enforcers.

Home adviser retired lieutenant general Jahangir Alam Chowdhury at a press meet at the Bangladesh Secretariat said that people were the worst sufferers of the blockade.

He hoped that people would come forward to prevent the protesters from blocking roads any further.

Mohammad Anowar Hossain, station master of the Dhaka rail station, popularly known as Kamlapur rail station, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the students halted Noakhali-bound Upukul Express near the Mohakhali level crossing at about 3:45pm.

‘Train movement from Dhaka to the northern, eastern and southern districts came to a halt. But trains are travelling from Dhaka to some districts via Narayanganj and Padma Bridge,’ he said.

Bangladesh Railway Dhaka divisional manager Mohiuddin Arif told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·Â  that rail communications resumed at 9:50pm after being snapped for about six hours.

‘We are refunding the tickets if any passenger wants it,’ he said, adding, ‘till 8:00pm on Monday we did not cancel journey of any trains.’

Passengers were seen at the Kamalapur rail station waiting for different trains with their luggage with many of them expressing frustration over the situation. 

Some crowds were also seen at the ticket counters to get ticket refunds. 

‘All the protesters seem to be bent on harassing the public as they are blocking roads and rail tracks,’ said train passenger Sajjad Hossain, ‘if this government does not understand our agony where will we go?’

The routes of some of the delayed trains from and to Dhaka include Chattogram, Sirajganj, Tarakandi, Chilahati, Dewanganj, Kishoreganj, Khulna, Panchagarh, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Sylhet, Mohonganj, Rajshahi and Cox’s Bazar, said Bangladesh Railway officials.

As of 9:00pm on the day, Silkcity Express on Dhaka-Rajshahi route was over five hours late, while Upukul Express on Dhaka-Noakhali and Kaloni Express on Dhaka-Sylhet routes were around five hours behind their schedules.

From about 12:30pm on Monday, the Titumir students blocked both sides of the Mohakhali-Gulshan road in front of the college as part of their ‘Barasat Barricade to North City’ programme, pressing for their demands.

Around 150 students brought out a march from the college at 3:00pm and blocked the rail tracks at Mohakhali.

Ashik Mahmud, Bangla department student of the college, said that they blocked the rail tracks as they did not get any positive responses from the government. ‘Education adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud yesterday (Sunday) said that our demand was not logical. We are demanding him to withdraw his statement,’ said Ashik.

Political science student Mehedi Hasan said that students shut all academic activities down in the college from Monday.

‘We will continue the shutdown and blockade programme till meeting the demands,’ said Mehedi. 

A huge number of law enforcers, including four platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh were deployed in the area to maintain law and order.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Gulshan Division deputy commissioner Tareq Mahmud told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on the day that their repeated attempts to persuade the protesting students to withdraw the blockade had failed.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Gulshan division additional deputy commissioner for traffic Ziaur Rahman said that they advised commuters to use the Mohakhali flyover as vehicular movement disrupted due to the blockade.  

Students began an indefinite hunger strike on January 29 and started blocking the college-adjacent road on January 30 under the banner of Titumir Oikya to press home the demand for turning the college, which is under Dhaka University, into a separate university.