Highway blocked during Saturday’s hartal
National Committee for Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Port and Power Protection will enforce hartal in Phulbari upazila of Dinajpur on Sunday for a second consecutive day.
Addressing a gathering in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the city, Prof Anu Mohammad, member secretary of the committee, said they will stage countrywide demonstrations to realise their demands.
Several thousand people blocked the Dinajpur-Dhaka highway at different points in the upazila since Saturday morning as part of its daylong hartal.
The committee called the hartal protesting the Section 144 imposed to foil its Friday afternoon meeting. The demonstrators organised the meeting to protest the government decision to let Asia Energy resume its survey in coal mine area.
Transport movement on the highway remained suspended since 6:00am on Saturday following the blockade, reports our Dinajpur correspondent.
The agitating people torched tyres at different points on the highway.
Train movement remained suspended for half an hour from 10:00am as the demonstrators blocked the railway tracks felling trees near Phulbari Railway Station, which links a number of districts of northern and southern regions with Dhaka and other parts of the country.
The train movement resumed when the agitators removed the trees from the tracks on request of local police.
All educational institutions, business establishments and most shops remain closed in the upazila since morning.
Additional police have been posted at different points in the upazila to avert any untoward incident, said Biman Karmakar, assistant superintendent of police of Dinajpur.
Source: The Daily Star
