A dawn-to-dusk hartal is being observed in Bera upazila of Pabna on Sunday, demanding the reinstatement of the Pabna-1 parliamentary constituency, which previously included both Bera and Sathia. The strike, called by the Sorbodoliyo Songram Committee, began at 6am and will continue until 6pm.
During the hartal, all shops and business establishments in Bera municipal town remain closed, and vehicular movement has largely come to a halt. No untoward incidents were reported as of filing.
The programme was announced on Saturday morning at a meeting held at the temporary office of the Sorbodoliyo Songram Committee, chaired by its president Alhaj Fazlur Rahman Fakir.
On August 4, the Election Commission issued a gazette notification finalising the boundaries of 300 constituencies ahead of the 13th parliamentary elections. Under the revised demarcation, Pabna-1 now covers only Sathia upazila, while Bera has been merged with Pabna-2, which also includes Sujanagar upazila.
The move sparked widespread protests in Bera. On September 7, locals blocked the Dhaka–Pabna highway for two hours, demanding that Pabna-1 be restored to its original form.
Protesters alleged the redrawing is “completely unjustified,” citing Bera’s strong economic, social, and trade links with Sathia. “Separating Bera from Sathia and merging it with Pabna-2 is unacceptable,” they said.
Bera municipal BNP president Fazlur Rahman Fakir said, “For the past 50 years, Pabna-1 has included both Sathia and Bera. It is one of the country’s key constituencies. Excluding Bera and attaching it to Pabna-2 makes no sense. We reject this decision and demand immediate cancellation of the gazette to restore Pabna-1 in its original form. Since our demands were ignored, we have called today’s dawn-to-dusk hartal along with road and river transport blockades in Bera.”
