Students of Titumir College resumed their road blockade programme around 4 pm Friday after 12 hours of pause to press home their demand of upgrading the college into a university.
The road blockade is continuing in front of the college campus for the second straight day. A few of the students are also observing a “fast until death” movement for the third straight day on Friday.
Earlier, on Thursday night, Md Nuruzzaman, joint secretary at the education ministry, termed the demand as “logical” without explaining why.
He also called on the students to stop their hunger strike as authorities will put all efforts to complete necessary steps for founding a “Titumir University” at the earliest. But the students were unrelenting, calling for an official announcement on realising their demand.
On Wednesday afternoon, five students began an indefinite hunger strike to press home their demand. The following morning, a few more students joined the movement at the college gate. On Thursday noon, some were even hospitalised after they fell sick.
At 11.30 am Thursday, a larger group of students blocked both sides of the road in front of the college campus, halting vehicular movement on the Mohakhali-Gulshan-1 route. The traffic congestion quickly spread to nearby areas.
At 4 am Friday, students lifted the blockade, only to resume it in the afternoon.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
