Cox’s Bazar college authorities, Chhatra League at loggerheads over road construction

Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Cox’s Bazar Government College unit has confronted college authorities over the construction of a road on a disputed land.

College Principal Prof AKM Fazlul Karim Chowdhury said the Chhatra League activists took out a procession under the banner of general students on Monday and vandalised valuables on campus.

A mobile court stopped the construction work on Saturday, he said adding that the project started under government’s TR and Kajer Binimoye Khadyo or KaBiKha (Food for Work) programme without informing the college authorities.

Local MP Saimum Sarwar Kamal has described the protests by college authorities as “illogical”.

The road under construction stretches up to Link Road Station from the north-east side of the college.

Activists of Chhatra League, the ruling Awami League’s student wing, said they did not take part in the vandalism although they support the cause.

Principal Karim said a legal battle was on with a man over the ownership of some land along a boundary wall on the north-east side of the college.

Local Krishak League leader Sheikh Yakub Ali started the construction work last week after receiving the green light from the authorities.

“A mobile court suspended the construction work on a complaint by the college authorities. The Chhatra League activists took out the procession on Monday afternoon protesting the move,” said Karim.

“They were agitating at the entrance of the administration building. They vandalised chairs of security guards there.”

He said he did not know who had locked the administration building. “I was inside my office during the agitation. I am not sure who locked the gate. Even the on-duty guards did not notice.”

He cited fear that the college authorities might lose ownership of the land if the road was constructed.

Zakir Hossain, president of the Chhatra League unit in the college, said: “The agitated students wanted to submit a memorandum to the principal. They broke some chairs when they found the gate locked. Police reached the scene as soon as the students tried breaking in.”

He said he and his general secretary Sakhawat Hossain went to the spot after hearing about the chaos but Chhatra League was in no way involved in the incident.

Local OC Khondaker Farid Uddin Chowdhury said students took out a procession and vandalised chairs when they found the entrance of the administration building locked.

Zakir Hossain said his unit had full support for the 12 demands placed by general students.

The demands include recovery of land from the grasps of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Shahidul Alam Bahadur and removal of structures contrary to the spirits of 1971 Liberation War from the campus. 

Hossain said students from Chakaria, Ramu, Ukhiya, and Teknaf come to the college every day. They walk about a kilometre after getting down at the Link Road Station.

“At least for their sake, the college authorities should appreciate the government’s initiative,” he told bdnews24.com.

Krishak League leader Yakub Ali said the project was recommended by local MP Saimum Sarwar Kamal and he was appointed the president of the project committee.

“I started the construction after receiving the first phase of funds a week ago. But the college authorities stopped the work citing a case.”

Kamal said, during a programme on the National Mourning Day last year, the students had asked for a road connecting the campus and the station.

“They wanted the road to be named as ‘Sheikh Russel Sarak’. I consulted the college authorities over the matter and they seemed positive.”

But now some anti-liberation teachers, including the principal, are trying to impede he process citing different excuses, he claimed.