Cuet students block Kaptai road for 8 hours

Students of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) today held a sit-in programme by blocking the Chattogram-Kaptai road for eight hours in protest of the death of two students in a road accident yesterday.

The students placed plastic dividers and logs to block the road from 10:00am to 6:00pm. Hundreds of vehicles were stuck on the Kaptai road for hours due to the demonstration by the students.

Students also gave the authorities concerned a 72-hour ultimatum to arrest the bus driver and his helper. The protesters also threatened to continue their movement if their demands are not met by the authorities.

Shanto Saha and Taufiq Hossain of the civil engineering department were killed in a collision between a motorbike and a passenger bus yesterday.

Meanwhile, the representatives of Cuet students, Cuet authorities, police, administration, and bus owners' association sat in a meeting at Chattogram Circuit House this afternoon. The students submitted nine-point demand to the authorities in the meeting.

The demands include immediate arrest of absconding driver and his helper and their exemplary punishment; establishment of modern medical centre in Cuet campus with all facilities; provision of ambulance facility with modern equipment; construction of four-lane highway from Kaptai Rastar Matha in Chattogram to Kaptai, examining liscences of the buses and CNG-run auto-rickshaws that ply the road, making the Student Welfare Council under accountable and forming students' representative group.

The meeting decided to give compensation to the deceased and injured students, said SM Shafiullah, superintendent of Police in Chattogram, adding that the district administration would pay Tk 5 lakh to each of two deceased's family while the family of injured students would be paid Tk 3 lakh.

Besides, the bus owners' association would pay Tk 2 lakh to each of the deceased's family and Tk 1 lakh to the family of injured student, he said.

The deputy commissioner of Chattogram have communicated with high officials of the government and an assurance has come to start the work of four-lane road within a month, he said, adding that police are conducting drives to arrest the driver and his assistant.

A seven-member probe committee headed by additional district magistrate of Chattogram has been formed to investigate the incident, said the SP, adding that the committee has been asked to submit report in seven working days.

Asadul Islam, a fourth-year student of department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, said the students had returned to the campus from road around 7:00pm.

He added that the students have decided to observe "mourning day" tomorrow in the campus, commemorating the tragic deaths.