After daylong protests by the Jagannath University students for the construction of the university鈥檚 second campus, interim government adviser Md Nahid Islam assured them of taking necessary steps within three days to fulfil the demands.
Several hundreds of students besieged the secretariat for around three hours to press home their five-point demand on Monday afternoon.
Earlier, they took position in front of the Shikkha Bhaban after marching from their university.
Due to the protests, severe traffic gridlock was seen in the adjacent areas of the secretariat causing suffering to passengers and transport workers.
The adviser for the ministries of education and planning, Wahiduddin Mahmud, and Nahid Islam, adviser of the ministries of posts, telecommunications and information technology and information and broadcasting, are scheduled to meet the representatives of the university administration and students at the education ministry today.
The demands of the students are bringing the project director liable for construction of the university鈥檚 second campus under legal accountability and transfer the work to Bangladesh Army officials within seven days, an official statement of the education ministry on the handover of the construction work, immediate acquisition of the remaining 11 acres of land for campus expansion, cancellation of all contracts signed during the previous 鈥榓uthoritarian鈥� governments concerning the old campus, inclusion of the university under the University Grants Commission鈥檚 pilot project and allocation of an annual budget of minimum Tk聽500 crore for the university.
The students started a procession from their campus towards the secretariat around 12:00pm to handover a memorandum to the Secondary and Higher Education Division secretary Siddique Zobair.
Around 1:00pm they came at the intersection in front of Shikkha Bhaban but the secretary declined to meet them.
Around 2:00pm the students gathered in front of the secretariat prompting all gates of the secretariat to close down. The students, meanwhile, staged protest inside the secretariat premises for a while.
At around 3:30pm, adviser Nahid Islam came out of the secretariat to talk to them and acknowledged that the demands are valid and reasonable.
He sought three days鈥� time to address all of the demands.
鈥榃e may not be able to provide halls within three days, but we can take steps to hand over the project to the Army,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榝urther discussions will be needed, however.鈥�
Nahid also said that the officials responsible would issue an apology if someone disrespects the students.
Later a 12-member delegation of the students, carrying a petition of demands, entered the secretariat and met Wahiduddin Mahmud, Nahid Islam and Siddique Zobair.
At the meeting, three JnU teachers 鈥� Rais Uddin, Belal Ahmed, and Nasir Ahmed 鈥� were also present.
Following the meeting, movement spokesperson Tausib Mahbub Sohan told reporters that representatives of the university administration would bring all relevant documents for the second campus project to the ministry this (Tuesday) noon along with two student representatives and two faculty members.
Discussion on the five demands would be held there, he added.
Shahbagh police officer-in-charge Khalid Mansur said that the students left the secretariat area around 5:00pm.
No trouble occurred during the protests, he said, adding that they had requested the students not to gather in the area as the 144 section had been imposed for the area.
