More than three hundred resident students of Dhaka University's Bangladesh-Kuwait Maitree Hall have reportedly fallen ill with waterborne diseases over the past several days, allegedly from drinking contaminated water.
The incident has sparked further outrage after students claim they were pressured by the hall administration and hall parliament to delete social media posts about the situation.
In response to these allegations, students took to the streets around midnight on Wednesday, staging a protest outside the hall.
They put forward a three-point demand and warned that if swift action was not taken, they would call for the resignation of both the administration and the hall parliament.
According to the students, symptoms of waterborne illness began appearing among residents nearly two weeks ago. Even after the number of sick students crossed 300, they say the hall administration failed to take any meaningful steps to address the crisis.
One of the protesters alleged that after students began posting about the contaminated water on social media, several of them were repeatedly pressured to take those posts down — through phone calls made via the hall parliament, the hall office, and even their own departmental faculty members.
One affected student recounted that when she fell seriously ill, she could barely find anyone to help her — because almost everyone around her was sick as well. A few friends eventually managed to take her to the medical centre, but the medicines prescribed by the doctor there were not available at the university's Shaheed Buddhijibi Dr Mohammad Mortaza Medical Centre.
She questioned: "Every year, during admission and seat renewal, students are charged a fee under the health sector. So where exactly does that money go?"
Protester Adite Islam noted that while the hall parliament had sent a water filter sample to the university's Microbiology Laboratory for testing, the results were never made public, even after the deadline had passed. She added that when students sought an explanation from the provost, no satisfactory answer was given, and that despite being in charge for a considerable time, the administration appeared to have only a vague understanding of the hall's water purification system and health management.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Adite Islam outlined three demands: a full public accounting of the budget and measures taken by the administration and hall parliament in the areas of health, education, and the canteen; accountability for the students' illness due to administrative negligence; and an end to the suppression of free expression, including the pressure being put on students to delete their posts.
"If there are no visible steps taken to address these demands by tomorrow, we will formally demand the resignation of the administration and the hall parliament," she said.
Students also alleged that during a meeting with the hall administration, a heated exchange took place over the health sector budget. According to them, the provost ultimately told students plainly: "We have no budget for health." It was this remark that pushed students over the edge and brought them out into the streets.
One protester said: "We have proof that Tk500 is collected from each student at the time of admission or seat renewal under the health sector. We want to know where that money has been spent."
Hall Provost Dr Mahbuba Sultana, for her part, confirmed that there is no separate budget allocated for students' healthcare at the hall — and it is precisely this admission, the students say, that sparked the protest in the first place.