Sylhet Bureau :
Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Mayor Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury went into hiding soon after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. Since last Monday, he is not coming in front of public gatherings or common people.
He did not even work for the last two days. The mobile phone used by him is also found switched off.
Anwaruzzaman was rumored to have moved to the UK before Sheikh Hasina left the country and fled the country. But his relatives say, he is still in the country, but has no contact with anyone.
On Wednesday afternoon, going to the mayor’s office on the third floor of Sylhet City Corporation, it was quiet. However, this office in Nagar Bhavan was always crowded. On this day, there was not much activity among the officials of the city building.
The previous day, on Tuesday at 12 noon, a handful of officials and employees were seen going to the city hall.
They left the office before 12 noon. At around 12 o’clock on this day, the gate under the city building was locked.
Students occupied the streets of Dhaka to demand the resignation of the government. Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down amid clashes across the country and the death of over 300 people after a movement started by students demanding quota reforms in government jobs turned into a movement to topple the government.
Many Awami League leaders from Sylhet were reported to have left the country before Sheikh Hasina secretly left the country and reached India for safe haven. Later there are rumors that many have left the country. And many of those who are in the country have gone into hiding in safe places.
SCC Mayor Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury covered her head immediately after Sheikh Hasina left the country. Apart from Anwaruzzaman, many councilors of SCC are also in hiding. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina, there is panic among many officials of SCC.
SCC Chief Executive Officer Md Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said, I do not know where the mayor is. He was probably in office the day before the trouble (the day of Hasina’s resignation). Since then he has not held any office. We have no information about your current whereabouts.
He also said, ‘We are working today. Yesterday it was not possible to work because the room was broken. I had a meeting with all the officers this morning. Now everyone is working normally.
Regarding whether the mayor had said anything or not, he said, there was no situation to say anything at that time. No one had a chance to say anything to anyone. Everyone is like that.
It is to be noted that Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury was elected mayor as Awami League candidate in the Sylhet City Corporation election on June 21 last year. He is the joint secretary of United Kingdom Awami League.
