Polytechnic students lift Tejgaon blockade, issue 24-hour ultimatum over recruitment policy
The protesters described a proposal to reserve a 33% quota for BSc engineers in 10th-grade sub-assistant engineer and equivalent posts as 'discriminatory, unjustified and completely unacceptable.'
Students of technical education institutions lifted their blockade at the Satrasta intersection in Dhaka's Tejgaon Industrial Area today (3 February), around three hours after launching the protest.
The demonstration was held against a proposal to reserve a 33% quota for BSc engineers in 10th-grade sub-assistant engineer and equivalent posts.
Ashraful Islam Mishan, an executive member of Karigori Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh, told The Business Standard, "We have cleared the road after issuing a 24-hour ultimatum for our demands to be met.
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"If the [relevant interim government] advisers do not take any action on the issue within this period, we will announce a Dhaka-bound programme," he said.
The students — from government and private technical institutions, including Dhaka Polytechnic Institute — began the blockade at around 12:30pm, bringing traffic at Satrasta to a halt and creating heavy congestion on surrounding roads.
They cleared the road around 3:45pm, said Tania Sultana, additional deputy commissioner of Traffic, Tejgaon Division, adding that vehicular movement started returning to normal.
Earlier, Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mahmudur Rahman told The Business Standard the protest caused severe traffic congestion in the Tejgaon Industrial Area and nearby roads.
Asked about traffic management, the OC said diversions have been put in place on different roads, adding that police are also holding discussions with the students to persuade them to clear the roads.
In a press release, the protesting students said an emergency meeting on Sunday (1 February), organised by the "Bangladesh Diploma Engineering Students–Teachers–Professionals Struggle Council," reviewed in detail the proposed decisions of a government-formed committee tasked with resolving long-standing professional disputes between BSc and diploma degree holders.
The participants described the proposal to reserve 33% quota for BSc engineers in 10th-grade sub-assistant engineer and equivalent posts as "discriminatory, unjustified and completely unacceptable," according to the release.
To protest what they termed a discriminatory proposal, they decided at the meeting to hold sit-ins at key locations in all divisional headquarters across the country today.
