Students of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SBAU) staged a blockade in Dhaka’s Agargaon area on Thursday, demanding implementation of a three-point charter of demands put forward by agricultural professionals. The protest brought traffic to a standstill, causing severe suffering for commuters.
The demonstration began around 12:00pm under the banner of Krishibid Oikya Parishad (Agriculturists’ Unity Council).
According to organizers, the decision was finalized the previous night and announced on the council’s official Facebook group. A day earlier, students had also held a protest march on campus denouncing an attack on engineering students at Shahbagh.
The students’ key demands include reserving all 10th-grade positions in the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), and other agricultural research institutes exclusively for agriculturists.
They also called for scrapping the provision of automatic promotion to the 9th grade under the BADC quota, ensuring only those who pass recruitment exams qualify for higher positions.
In addition, they demanded a government notification restricting the use of the professional title “Krishibid” (agriculturist) solely to graduates in agriculture or agriculture-related fields.
Meanwhile, engineering students across all universities observed a “complete shutdown” program on the same day.
However, to minimize public suffering, they decided not to stage a blockade at the Shahbagh intersection.