Shafiqul Islam (Jami)
Students have also protested on human chain and demonstration on the road yesterday demanding justice for the death of SSC examinee Mainuddin Islam in a bus crash in the capital’s Rampura. They declared to protest again on Tuesday in Rampura at 11 am. Sohagi Samia, a student of Khilgaon Model College, made the announcement on behalf of the agitating students. She said their detailed program would be announced tomorrow (Wednesday). On Tuesday afternoon, the students started a sit-in with banners and festoons in front of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) head office in Banani demanding 9 points for safe roads.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, students of several educational institutions including BAF Shaheen College, Imperial College, Ekramunnesa School and College started human chain in Rampura. Various types of placards were seen in the hands of the protesting students. Some of them were written, ‘My father is crying for safe roads’, ‘Students build unity, demand for safe roads’, ‘We want justice’, ‘Am I next’, ‘Students die in the dark of night, administration falls asleep’.
Meanwhile, the students also demanded to ensure half pass in public transport and seeking justice in the case of Mainuddin’s death. Meanwhile, the transport owners have accepted the demand of half pass for students in public transport on some conditions on Tuesday. They said that half pass of students will be applicable only for Dhaka city; Not outside Dhaka. Also half rent will not be applicable on weekly and public holidays.
It has been seen that in Rampura, the students check and select the drivers’ licenses and documents. The driver and his assistant fled leaving a BRTC bus on the road at around 11 pm while the students were checking their papers. During the agitation, the students said that they were leaving some vehicles in the emergency lane so that no patient or examinee would face any difficulty due to the agitation.
Mainuddin was killed when two buses collided while crossing the road in Rampura around 10:30 pm on Monday. This time he has given SSC exam. It is learned that Mainuddin’s father runs a tea shop in Rampura. Mainuddin is the youngest of two brothers and one sister. Their village home is in Brahmanbaria. When news of Mainuddin’s death spread, locals became angry that night and set fire on several buses, while locals blocked roads and protested demanding justice for the culprits.
