
A faction of Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Munshiganj, demanding punishment of those party leaders they had accused of forming local committees through irregularities and getting involved in extortion and illegal sand mining.
Several thousand BNP activists from across Gazaria upazila in the district during demonstrations alleged that Gazaria upazila BNP convener Syed Siddiq Ullah Farid and member secretary Abdur Rahman Shafiq were allocating posts in the local committees in exchange of money and appointing individuals with ties to ousted Awami League.
They also alleged that Syed Siddiq and Abdur Rahman were involved in extorting people intimidating them with false cases and also doing sand mining illegally.Â
The protesters held a rally in front of Mohammad Ali Plaza in Gazaria sadar. From there marched onto the highway and blocked it in Bhaberchar bus stand area from about 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Â
They also declared Syed Siddiq and Abdur Rahman unwanted in Gazaria and gave a 24-hour ultimatum to dissolve the newly-formed four union committees in Bausia, Gazaria, Tengarchar and Baluakandi, which were approved on July 15.Â
At the rally, Gazaria upazila Jubo Dal member secretary Nazir Ahmed Shikdar said, ‘The convener and member secretary of Gazaria upazila BNP took bribes and formed committees with unqualified individuals and even supporters of Awami League.’Â
He also alleged that a senior leader was tarnishing the reputation of the BNP by illegally extracting sand from private land in the name sand quarry lease.
Gazaria police officer-in-charge Md Anwar Alam Azad said, ‘Due to the blockade by BNP leaders and activists, traffic on the highway was halted for a while. We removed them from the highway at about 5:00pm, and now traffic is normal.’Â
The protest erupted after documents of the newly formed four union committees surfaced on the social media platform, Facebook, on July 24.  Â