DEATH OF TWO STUDENTS IN ACCIDENT IN CAPITAL Protests bring traffic to a halt

Students of different educational institutions, including Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, blocked the capital’s Airport Road for nearly six hours Monday, protesting at the deaths of two of their fellows in a road accident at Kurmitola on Sunday.
They also blocked the railway at Dhaka Railway Station point for about one hour and a half from 1:30pm to press home their nine-point demands including justice, resignation of shipping minister Shajahan Khan and his apology to the nation.
Meanwhile, commuters in the city suffered a lot as vehicles in the city’s northern part remained in a standstill on the roads of the area for hours. 
As the day rolled on, the traffic tangle spread to other parts of the city, leading to the collapse of the city’s road communications.
Students of Dhaka College, Dhaka City College and Ideal College put up blockade on Mirpur Road at Science Laboratory crossing for about half an hour since 11:45am, expressing their solidarity with the students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College that also created traffic jam in the adjacent areas. 
In the afternoon, students of Commerce College demonstrated on Technical Mor to Mirpur-1, blocking the
road at places for around one and a half hours and vandalised several vehicles protesting at the killing of the two students, witnesses said.
Two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College — class XI student Diya Khanam Mim, 17, and class XII student Abdul Karim Rajib, 19, — were killed and 12 others injured as bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan ploughed through a crowd of students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road on Sunday as three buses were allegedly in a race over getting passengers.
Diya’s father Md Jahangir Fakir lodged a case with the Cantonment Police Station, accusing unidentified drivers of killing the duo and injuring others, said the police station’s officer-in-charge Quazi Shahan Huq.
He told New Age Monday evening that none was arrested in this connection so far.
However, Rapid Action Battalion additional director general Colonel Anwar Latif Khan in front of Shaheed Ramij Uddin College told reporters around noon that they had already detained five people – three drivers and two helpers of three racing buses and legal action would be taken against them.
In a text message in the evening, RAB said that they arrested Md Masum Billah, 30, driver of the bus number Dhaka Metro Ba – 11- 9297 that killed the two students, and his helper Md Enayet, 38, Md Jubayer, 36, driver of another bus carrying number Dhaka Metro Ba-11-7657, and Md Sohagh, 35, driver of the other bus carrying number Dhaka Metro Ba-11-7580, and his helper Ripon, 32, in separate raids in Dhaka and Barguna.
The message said that only Masum was arrested from Barguna and the others were arrested from different places in Dhaka.
‘The condition of the nine students, out of 10, admitted to Combined Millitary Hospital is now better and they may be released from the hospital on Tuesday. The condition of the remaining one who was critically injured is also improving,’ Ramij Uddin College principal Noor Nahar Yesmin told New Age.
Witnesses said several hundred students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin College tried to form a human chain in front of the school about 10:00am but a huge number of police did not allow them and forced them to leave the spot.
Later, they staged a sit-in near Radisson Hotel around 10:15 am, disrupting traffic movement.
As police obstructed them, they brought out a procession from there protesting at the death of their two fellows and put up a barricade on the Airport Road about 10:30am, disrupting traffic movement on the busy road.
The enraged students, carrying handwritten posters with slogans — ‘we want justice’, ‘no mother should lose their children in accidents’, also chanted slogans demanding shipping minister’s resignation and his unconditional apology.
By 12:00pm, students of different schools and colleges including BAF Shaheen College, Kurmitola, Government Science College, Nawab Habibullah Model School and College, Bangabandhu College and Banani Bidya Niketan School and College joined the road blockade programme expressing solidarity with their demand.
On behalf of the agitating students, Saiful Islam Apon of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin College, about 12:25pm placed a nine-point demand including highest punishment for the bus drivers responsible for killing their two fellows, withdrawal of the shipping minister’s comments of Sunday and unconditional apology by the minister, establishing footbridges and taking safety measures for safe movement of students, establishing speed breakers in accident prone areas including in front of the schools and colleges, taking all responsibilities of the deceased and injured by the government, compelling the buses to carry students, half fare for the students, not allowing buses without fitness and driving by any unlicensed driver at any place of the country and ban on carrying passengers more than its capacity.
After placing the demands, police and the RAB officials as well as teachers of Ramij Uddin College tried to placate the students.
As the efforts failed, a representative team of students met in a meeting with the law enforcement agencies in presence of the college authorities at the college where the students again placed their demands.
‘We withdrew our blockade sometimes after 4:00pm as the administration assured us of meeting all our demands and as the bus drivers and helpers were arrested,’ said Apon, who was present in the meeting.
Shipping minister Shajahan Khan, also executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation, at his secretariat office on Monday claimed that his resignation was not the solution. ‘Rather I want to tell the students that I was able to take effective role in reducing road accidents.’ 
‘The students left the road about 4:15pm and it took some more time for the traffic to become normal,’ said Cantonment Police Station OC Shahan Huq in the evening.
Obviously, different areas had witnessed traffic jam due to the blockade, he said. 
Thousands of people had to walk their destinations during the blockade hours while patients, children, women and elderly people were the worst sufferers.
Some elderly hajj pilgrims were also seen to rush to the hajj camp at Ashekona with their huge luggage with the help of others.
Due to the blockade, commuters said, severe jam was witnessed on main roads as well as inner roads of areas including Banani, Gulshan, Uttara, Baridhara, Basundhara, Kuril, Natunbazar and Badda. 
Md Shafiqul Islam Khan, a businessman from Uttara, told New Age that he had to get down at Kuril flyover about 1:00 pm after waiting about one hour due to severe Jam and began to walk for his destination at Mahakhali. 
‘On way back, I saw vehicles standing still from Khilkhet footbridge to Airport and I had to walk the whole way. There was a very few transports from the airport area,’ he said.
A private car driver from Uttara said that he needed about eight hours from 11:30am to reach his employer’s office at Banglamotors from Uttara.
Witnesses said that the students of Commerce College demonstrated on Technical Mor to Mirpur-1 road for over one and a half hours since 4:30pm expressing their solidarity with the students of Ramij Uddin Cantonment College, creating severe jam in the area for the time.
The agitating students also vandalised several vehicles on the road during their demonstration, they said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Darussalam zone assistant commissioner Md Jahangir, however, claimed that the students demonstrated ‘not more than five minutes’ and that there was no news of vandalising during their demonstration.
The police officer said that the local lawmaker calmed the demonstrating students.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority temporarily suspended the registration of two Jabale Nur Pvt Ltd buses responsible for Kurmitola accident, said BRTA Dhaka divisional office deputy director (engineering) Md Masud Alam on Monday.
He said that they asked the company to submit all the documents of the vehicles and driving licences of the drivers who were running the buses during the accident, he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net