People from all walks of life on Wednesday protested against the Rajshahi Development Authority鈥檚 decision to lease the building constructed for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Square to Cambrian International School.
About a hundred protesters under the banner of 36 July Parishad formed a human chain beside the building at Talaimari intersection, demanding cancellation of the lease and declaration of the structure as the July Uprising Memorial.
Addressing the rally, 36 July Parishad general secretary Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan, a history student at Rajshahi College, said that the square had been a key site for major student and democratic movements in Rajshahi, including the July Uprising.
鈥楾hroughout every phase of the movement against autocracy, students and people of Rajshahi gathered here at Talaimari Chattar,鈥� he said.
Hasan alleged that despite repeated appeals to preserve the building as a memorial for the martyrs and injured participants of the uprising, the authority instead leased it to a private organisation.
鈥榃e have heard that the building was handed over in exchange for money. But can the administration bring back our martyrs or heal our wounded brothers in return for that money?鈥� he asked.
He said that the July Parishad wanted future generations to learn from the history of the movement.
鈥榃e want our children to draw inspiration from this place 鈥� from how people once stood up against fascism and autocratic rule,鈥� Hasan said, demanding that the lease be revoked and the building renamed 鈥楯uly 36 Memorial Museum.鈥�
鈥業f the authorities do not cancel the lease, we will launch a larger protest in the coming days,鈥� he warned.
Another activist, Mohammad Sarowar Hossain, an honours student at Rajshahi Government City College, said that their movement were aimed to preserve the memory of the July Uprising.
鈥極ur main demand is to convert this building into a museum dedicated to the July Movement. Instead, the authority has leased it out for a nominal fee. We urge them to withdraw the lease immediately,鈥� he said.
Earlier in 2017, the Rajshahi Development Authority took a project titled 鈥楩ather of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Square鈥� at Talaimari crossing, with an estimated cost of about Tk 59.28 crore, aiming at upholding the spirit of Bangabandhu and 鈥榓dding beauty to the city鈥�.
The cost of the project, however, was doubled to Tk 125 crore in 2022 as the consulting firm made a change in the design of the building midway through the construction.
Later, following the ouster of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, the housing and public works ministry cancelled the second phase of the project.
Since then, the building constructed in an area of 12,518.08 square metres of land at the Talaimari crossing in Rajshahi city at a cost of Tk 61 crore has remained idle, until the authorities leased it to Cambrian International School.