Diploma engineers block Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur, halts traffic

The Diploma Engineers’ Welfare Foundation on Tuesday organized protest rallies and a blockade on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway from 6pm to 6:45pm.

The demonstration was held in protest against the harassment of diploma engineers in power distribution companies and the three-point demands of the Engineers’ Rights Movement.

Demonstrators blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Chandna Chowrasta in Gazipur from 6pm to 6:45pm, halting traffic and causing heavy congestion that led to immense suffering for commuters, on-duty Traffic Inspector Tarikul Islam said.

The protesters demanded that legal action be taken against those who continue to conspire against technical education and diploma engineers and who seek to destabilize the country with irrational demands.

During the demonstration, the protesters placed forward their seven-point demand:

1. Division of engineering work into desk and field engineering, with job responsibilities clearly defined for BSc and diploma engineers; and reservation of the government-recognized 10th-grade post of sub-assistant engineer exclusively for diploma engineers holding a four-year degree under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board.
2. In government, semi-government, autonomous engineering organizations, departments, and power companies, the ratio of BSc to diploma engineers must be set at 1:5.
3. Promotion quota from sub-assistant engineer to assistant engineer should be increased from the existing 33% to 50%.
4. To prevent wastage of merit, engineers should not be recruited into any cadre other than the technical cadre, and career shifting from the engineering profession must be strictly regulated.
5. Modernization of the diploma engineering curriculum and its preparation in English, ensuring a teacher-student ratio of 1:12, and addressing teacher shortages.
6. Increase in scholarship amounts for diploma students in line with the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee.
7. Implementation of the six-point demands of the Technical Students’ Movement, Bangladesh, including ensuring admission opportunities for diploma certificate holders in universities of engineering and technology and engineering colleges through credit transfer.

The protesters said they had already submitted their seven-point demand to IDB, adding that their expectation was its implementation and that the day’s program was organized to press for it.

They warned that if such actions are not stopped, over one lakh thousand diploma engineers and more than five lakh polytechnic students will be compelled to announce tougher programs.