Bangladesh News

Several hundred residential students of different dormitories of Rajshahi University (RU) in a frenzy of outrage over power outages blocked traffic on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway for two hours and vandalised several campus facilities at midnight Sunday including the residence of the vice chancellor (VC) of the university.

Agrani Bank RU branch, the second administrative building and the power regulatory office were other on-campus targets of the students’ wrath.

At around 11:00pm on Sunday, the students built fires with tyres on the Dhaka- Rajshahi highway near the university main entrance demanding uninterrupted power supply in all residential halls on the campus, campus sources said.

Numbers of vehicles were stranded on the highway for about two hours causing severe traffic congestion, said the sources.

Since 11:00pm, the police and the demonstrating students clashed many times and chase-counter chase lasted for three hours.

Hundreds of resident students from Sher-e-Bangla, Bangabandhu and Motihar halls came out of their dorms infuriated after they had experienced eight power outages since evening on Sunday, sources said.

Mansur Alam, a resident student of Bangabandhu hall, said severe power outages have been going on for about a month that is affecting the students’ studies.

The students threatened to launch a greater agitation against the university authorities if smooth power supply is not ensured within 24 hours.

RU VC Prof Altaf Hossain yesterday confirmed the incident and told the Daily Star that a section of student organisations are behind the frequent violence on campus. “We called a teacher body meeting yesterday night to find the attackers and to solve the existing power crisis.”