Ariful Haque led a protest rally and strike in Sylhet for eight demands, including the renovation of the Sylhet-Dhaka highway
Sylhet Bureau :
A protest rally and a one-hour symbolic strike were held in Sylhet for eight demands, including the speedy completion of the renovation work of the Sylhet-Dhaka highway.
The program was observed by keeping shops and vehicles in the city closed from 11 am to 12 noon on Sunday (October 12).
Former mayor of Sylhet City Corporation and advisor to the BNP Chairperson Ariful Haque Chowdhury called for this program on various demands, including road communication, air, railway, power outages, and water shortages.
Ariful Haque Chowdhury spoke at the protest rally held at the city’s Court Point.
At the time, he said that the people of Sylhet are being deprived of basic civil rights. Fair access to the education, health, gas, electricity, and communication sectors in Sylhet has not been ensured even today. Despite playing an important role in every political and social field, the people of Sylhet are victims of discrimination. The people of Sylhet are repeatedly deprived of their fair rights to education, health, gas, electricity, water – that is, the basic needs of citizens. He said that the entire road system of Sylhet is under unbearable threat. The development work of Sylhet-Dhaka, Sylhet-Chittagong highways has come to a standstill. Not only the highways, but also the internal roads of Sylhet city are in a bad condition. The number of tourists in Sylhet is decreasing due to the transportation system. Especially the severe traffic jam on the Amberkhana road from the airport has greatly dampened the expectations of outsiders about the people of Sylhet. Moreover, the condition of the roads leading to various tourist centers is also in a bad condition. He said that the operation and maintenance system of Bangladesh Railway has been completely destroyed. Since its inception in 1862 during the British rule, the railway station has been operated according to the rules of that era. As a result, the people of Sylhet are facing severe problems. Frequent accidents, trains stopping at unspecified places in exchange for money, not getting tickets due to brokers, and trains not leaving on time have now become a daily occurrence for the people of Sylhet. Although a new train was supposed to be added to the Sylhet-Dhaka route, it has been canceled.
At this time, Ariful Haque sought the attention of the Chief Advisor and the concerned ministry.
He said that despite playing an important role in the country’s economy, remittance warriors are being harassed in various ways after setting foot on the country’s soil. Passengers are being harassed on air fares. At this time, Arif demanded that measures be taken after investigating the demands of the expatriates of Sylhet and starting flights on the Dhaka-Sylhet, Sylhet-Chittagong, and Sylhet-Cox’s Bazar routes. Arif said that Sylhet city was submerged under water in the terrible floods of 2022. A plan was sent then, but the Local Government Engineering Department implemented the project in the other four flood-affected divisions, but for unknown reasons it was not implemented in Sylhet division. Stating that the people of Sylhet are being deprived of electricity service, Arif said, “Where electricity is generated in Sylhet at 2,496 megawatts, only 700 megawatts of electricity are being provided to Sylhet division.” As a result, load shedding is happening every day in Sylhet. At that time, he demanded to restore the stability of Sylhet’s electricity system in proportion to demand. Regarding residential and non-residential gas connections in Sylhet, he said, “Sylhet is making an important contribution to the gas sector of Bangladesh. Many gas fields in Sylhet are enriching the national grid. By next December, Sylhet’s gas production will increase seven times.” But the unfortunate thing is that the people of Sylhet are running around in a hurry for residential and non-residential gas connections. “There will be gas in Sylhet, and the people of Sylhet will not get gas—that will not happen.” Demanding special allocation for the areas where mineral resources are being produced, Arif said, “We will not be evasive, gas connections must be provided; otherwise, we will stage a movement.” Stating that Sylhet’s education sector is also a victim of discrimination, he said, “526 primary teacher posts in Sylhet are vacant.” He said, “The education system in Sylhet must be built up to standard by filling the vacancies in every educational institution.” Citing statistics from various city corporations in terms of budget, he asked, “How is this discrimination with Sylhet?” After the protest rally, they went to the office of the Sylhet Deputy Commissioner with a memorandum containing various demands. Leaders and activists of various religious, social, professional, business and political organizations of Sylhet joined the rally. Regardless of party affiliation, everyone came with banners and festoons containing various demands to protest against discrimination against Sylhet.