Dhaka University Officers’ Association on Sunday formed a human chain, demanding cancellation of the notification of the universal pension system issued by the Ministry of Finance, calling it discriminatory.
The human chain was held at about 11:00am on Sunday in front of Dhaka University’s Smriti Chirantan Chatwar.
During the human chain, participants were seen standing with placards bearing slogans such as ‘Stop imposing black laws on autonomous institutions’, ‘Implement the 9th pay scale’, ‘No two policies in one country’, and the like.
Presided over by Dhaka University Officers’ Association general secretary Md Mozammel Haque, officers and employees from various departments of the university delivered their speeches at the human chain.
In his speech, the president of the Dhaka University Officers Association, Abdul Motaleb, said, ‘This university is our life and our consciousness. If the notification issued by the Ministry of Finance regarding pension is implemented here, it will be a blow to our consciousness and will take the university to the brink of destruction.’
Speaking on the occasion, Kamrul Hasan, manager of the Dhaka University Transport office, said, ‘We hope that this message of our officers and employees will reach the prime minister and the discriminatory decision will be withdrawn. If not, the Dhaka University family knows exactly how to meet their demands. We will not return home until our demands are met.’
On March 13, the Ministry of Finance issued a notification about pensions.
It stated that ‘all officers and employees who join the service of all autonomous, self-governing, nationalised, statutory or similar organisations and their subordinate institutions on or after July 1, 2024, would be brought under the Universal Pension Scheme.
