The students of Jagannath University on Thursday called strike on the campus for Sunday and vowed marching towards the Prime Minister’s Office if their demands including construction of halls of residence on the vacated land of Dhaka Central Jail at Old Dhaka are not met.
The announcement came on completion of Thursday’s strike on the campus to press for their demands
The students locked the main entrance along with other entrances of the university’s different buildings in the morning to toughen their strike programme.
Boycotting classes and examinations, they took position in front of the university and were staging demonstration starting fire on the road.
On Wednesday, the students announced the strike after their march towards education ministry. Police, however, intercepted them in front of the National Press Club.
The students continued their demonstration for days alleging that they were living in insecurity at boarding houses as the university authorities failed to provide residential facilities to them.
Moreover, they were facing problems at boarding houses over the ongoing issue of extremism, the students said.
In the face of movement, the authorities of Jagannath University on August 11 wrote to the government again seeking permanent ownership of the vacated land of Dhaka Central Jail to use it for various purposes including constructing halls of residence for its students.
The letter was sent as per decision of a meeting of the university’s academic council.
Earlier on March 23, 2014, the university authorities had sent a letter to the home ministry over the permanent ownership of the land of Dhaka jail located at Nazimuddin Road.
They, in the letter, had requested the ministry to take steps for handing over the ownership of the land permanently after its shifting.
Source: New Age
