The agitated students of different private universities have staged demonstrations on Saturday, for the fourth consecutive day, in protest against imposition of 7.5% VAT on the tuition fees.
Our Correspondent reports from the spot that the students of Daffodil University have again took to the street Saturday afternoon, causing a heavy traffic congestion in the capital's Dhanmondi area.
The roads were blocked due to protests and demonstrations by the private university students at Dhanmondi 27, 6, 32 and Science lab intersection. later, the situation turned normal around 1:45pm as the students left the streets.
In Savar, several hundred students of Gono University took to the Dhaka-Aricha Highway around 12 noon, crippling the traffic system. Later, they freed the highway around 1pm after a short negotiation meeting with the local police, said Ashulia police station OC Mostafa Kamal.
He said: "The highway is free now, however, it is witnessing a moderate jam."
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Apart from the capital, several hundred students of Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi cities have took to the streets on Saturday morning and occupied the main points.
In Chittagong, the students of Begum Gulchemonara Trust University blocked the road adjacent to their campus in Chandanaish upazila in the morning.
Chandanaish police station OC Nazmul Islam said the students took to the street and blocked the main road in front of their university while the motorcade of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was crossing the area.
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“Being informed, we reached the spot and took the situation under control. Later, the demonstrators returned to their campus.”
Our Sylhet Correspondent reports: “The students of five private universities took position in front of the central Shaheed Minar premises around 11:30am. They blocked the adjacent roads, causing a terrible gridlock in the city streets.”
Kotwali police station OC Sohel Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that the students wrapped up their demonstration around 3pm.
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On the other hand, Our Rajshahi Correspondent said several hundred students of different private universities staged demonstrations in the morning.
Private university students simultaneously blockaded major thoroughfares in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Thursday, bringing Dhaka city and parts of Chittagong city skidding to a halt.
Since police opened fire on protesting East West University students on Wednesday, students of private universities are staging protest in order to press home their demand of VAT withdrawal.
Despite a National Board of Revenue message that the VAT would be levied on schools directly and not on students, protests continue, with students saying they opposed, on principle, a VAT on education and that the tax would eventually be offloaded by private universities on to their students.
