Officials from the government's Public Works Department in Rajshahi formed a human chain demanding exemplary punishment for the owner and manager of a contractor company.
The owner and the manager reportedly attacked an engineer in the department's office and vandalized premises located in the "C and B'' intersection area of the city.
At the human chain on Tuesday, the protesters also demanded cancellation of the licence for the contractor company Liton Enterprise, and the cancellation of all of their running contracts. The protest took place at the premises of the Public Works Department office in Rajshahi.
Police arrested the owner and the manager of Liton Enterprise after a case was filed against the two by Sub Divisional Engineer Ifhtekhar Hossain.
The arrested were identified as the company's owner Shahabul Monjur Liton, 31, and his manager Atikur Rahman, 32.
On Monday, Delwar Hossain, a sub-assistant engineer of the Public Works Department in Rajshahi, was attacked in his office. He has since been undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. In the attack, a laptop, a printer, and furniture of the engineer's office were also vandalized.
Delwar said crores of Taka are being spent to construct a land office in Rajshahi's Puthia upazila.
On Sunday, Delwar went to the construction site for an inspection where he found that low quality materials are being used to build the land office. 2.5 inches of casting is being used instead of the required 4 inches, according to Delwar.
"Finding irregularities in the construction work, I ordered a stop to it and to clear the place. Liton and his manager Atik, came to my office on Monday and severely beat me with a chair."
IDEB condemns attack on engineer
Condemning the attack, the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, called on law enforcement agencies to ensure that the culprits are punished.
Earlier, a deputy assistant engineer of the Education Engineering Department was tortured and physically injured by the chairman of Chandpur’s Kachua upazila.
If incidents like these keep happening, it will be impossible for engineers to maintain quality standards in infrastructure development and construction work following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directives, said a joint statement issued by IDEB President AKMA Hamid, and General Secretary Md Shamsur Rahman.
