Brahmanbaria rail and road blockade lifted with a 72-hour ultimatum as train services return to normal

The road and rail blockade that began in protest against the separation of six villages from the Akhanda Basudeb union of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila, and against the move to split the Sadar upazila, has been withdrawn.

After a compromise meeting with the local administration, the protesters lifted the blockade with a 72-hour ultimatum, and train services on the Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet routes returned to normal after nearly five and a quarter hours. At the same time, passenger and goods vehicles bound for India resumed movement on the Sultanpur-Chinaiar-Akhaura and Agartala roads.

Earlier, from 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, agitated residents had begun demonstrating by taking position on the railway line at Kodda cabin and the Titas bridge area of Sadar upazila, and on the adjoining land port road.

As a result, train movement on two of the country's most important rail corridors came to a complete halt. Because of the sudden standstill, several long-distance passenger trains, including the Parabat, Paryatak Express, Mohanagar, Subarna Express and Upakul Express, were stuck at various stations and faced severe schedule disruption.

At the same time, the halt in traffic on the border road created a long queue of India-bound passenger and goods vehicles.

According to the protesters, in May this year, six villages of the historic Basudeb union of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila — Kodda, Baishnabpur, Shyamnagar, Korabari, Chandi and Barishal — were split off to form a new union named 'Barishal', which was attached to Akhaura upazila, and a gazette on this was published on 4 June.

Although the locals had opposed this decision from the start, an administrative initiative was recently taken to merge the Basudeb, Sultanpur and Ramrail unions of Sadar upazila to form a separate new upazila named 'Barishal'. As soon as a feasibility letter from the Local Government Division on this became public, people from all walks of life in Sadar upazila erupted in anger.

In the situation that developed, around 11:15 in the morning, the blockaders temporarily vacated the rail and road routes through administrative mediation.

Brahmanbaria District Council administrator and district BNP general secretary Md. Sirajul Islam said that after constructive discussions with the protesters, they had moved off the streets.

Brahmanbaria Sadar police station officer-in-charge (OC) Khairul Alam said police quickly reached the spot, spoke with the protesters and brought the situation under control, and that train and road communication is now fully normal.

However, the local residents have warned that if their demands are not met within the next three days, they will resume a tougher and continuous movement.