Students attached to the Jananetri Sheikh Hasina Hall of Chittagong University held a sit-in protest in front of the female hall on Sunday morning over the delay in the publication of the merit list for seat allotment.
They locked the hall gates and confined the provost and other officials inside for around two and a half hours. Following the assurances of the provost, the protest was called off.
Hall Provost Prof Md Helal Uddin, said: “Selecting the students by their merit and publishing the result is a lengthy process, but we are trying our best. Moreover, some parts of the hall are still under construction.
“We assured the students that we will publish the result on November 3, and they can stay in the hall soon after that.”
The placards from the protest said: “Are we refugees?”, “Hang up notice today,” “Open Sheikh Hasina Hall,” “Publish the allotment result.”
Natasha Islam, a third year student of International Relations department who was also protesting, said: “We have been staying in overcrowded rooms of other halls in miserable conditions. But the authorities do not seem to care ever since the construction work began in 2015.”
“We had earlier protested on April 3, the action prompted the authorities to begin the application submission process for seat allotment. Their irresponsible attitude forced us to protest again as they are now taking a long time to publish the allotment result,” added Natasha.
The Chittagong University has four halls for its female students at present.