Torch procession and highway blockade demand Shariatpur Agricultural University be built near the district town

People from different walks of life in Shariatpur have held a torch procession, a human chain and a road blockade demanding that Shariatpur Agricultural University be established at its previously designated site near the district headquarters. Their demand is that the university be built in or around the district town, not at one far edge of the district.

The programmes were held on Sunday evening (November 1) beside the Kotapara bridge on the Shariatpur-Dhaka highway under the banner of 'people of all strata of Shariatpur district'. Protesters blocked the highway for about 30 minutes, disrupting traffic on both sides of the road.

Residents, students and teachers from Shariatpur Sadar, Jajira, Naria and other upazilas took part. After bringing out the torch procession in the evening, they formed a human chain. Speakers included Nashasan Union BNP vice-president Masum Khan, UP member Billal Sheikh, Dhaka University student Abdur Rahman Dalim, Kamrul Islam Malat and representatives of different local professions.

Speakers at the human chain said that after the law establishing Shariatpur Agricultural University was passed in 2023, Domsar in Sadar upazila and Nashasan in Naria upazila were considered as possible sites. But recently, after the appointment of a vice-chancellor, a proposal has emerged to set up the university in a union of Damudya upazila, dropping those sites. This has created discontent among the district's people.

The speakers said the high price of land is being cited as an obstacle to building the university near the district town. Yet if land prices are the main barrier, local residents are ready to give land free of cost for the greater interest of the district; if necessary, they are willing to donate their own land.

They argued that the proposed Damudya site lies at one edge of the district, so students from Sadar, Jajira, Naria and other upazilas would face extra hardship commuting. Ensuring housing, medical care, tuition and other civic facilities would also become a challenge.

The speakers added that Shariatpur Agricultural University is not the property of any single upazila or area but of the whole district. The site decision should therefore weigh the district's overall transport links, students' convenience and future prospects rather than privileging one area's interest. On those grounds, building it in or near the district town is the logical choice.

According to the protesters, a university at one edge of the district would make students' travel, housing and essential civic services hard to ensure — the concern that brought them onto the streets demanding the headquarters-adjacent site.

From the human chain, they called on the relevant government authorities to reconsider the site decision and begin construction at the previously designated site near the district headquarters. The protesters also warned that tougher programmes would follow if the demand is ignored.