Students of Rabindra University at Shahzadpur in Sirajganj on Sunday took to the streets, protesting against the illegal extraction of sand from land allocated for the proposed permanent campus of the university.
The students brought out a procession and held a rally, demanding an immediate halt to sand lifting from Buripota Jiya and the arrest of those responsible.
The students said that the site had been filled with sand at the university鈥檚 own expense in previous years to prepare for campus construction.
Now, under the cover of darkness, sand lifters are stealing it away, one of the protesters alleged.
They filed a general diary with the Shahzadpur police station and a memorandum to the upazila nirbahi officer before marching through the town.
The protest started from the university鈥檚 temporary Academic Building-3 around 3:00pm and ended on the upazila parishad premises.
The students of the university in a joint statement said that alhough Rabindra University was established over nine years ago, no permanent campus had yet been built.
Various conspiracies continue to delay the project, and this illegal sand lifting seems to be part of that conspiracy, the stressed, warning of tougher movements if authorities failed to stop the practice and punish the culprits.
Shahzadpur police station officer-in-charge Md Aslam Ali said that the students had lodged a complaint. 鈥榃e have already informed the UNO and assistant commissioner for land regarding the matter.鈥�
UNO Md Kamruzzaman said, 鈥楨ven before receiving the memorandum, the AC land conducted an operation. A man was fined Tk 50,000 by a mobile court for illegally extracting sand.鈥�
AC land Mushfiqur Rahman added that nearly one kilometre of sand-lifting pipes were seized and destroyed during the drive. 鈥楨fforts are ongoing to identify others involved.鈥�
People of the area alleged that apart from Buripota Jiya under Shahzadpur鈥檚 Chalan Beel area, illegal sand lifting continued unabated in several other parts of the district, including Bhuter Mor, Hijulia, Katalia, Char Salimabad, Boalkandi and Khas Pukuriah char unde Chowhali upazila.
Although mobile court drives are occasionally conducted, the practice has yet to stop, they claimed.
