JU students protest midnight tree felling for IBA building construction

Despite the students' objections regarding the selected site for the new academic building of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) at Jahangirnagar University (JU), approximately fifty trees of various species were cut down on Wednesday, November 1, at around 4 a.m.

The site behind the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) was abundant with trees and biodiversity, so the students named it 'Sundarban', and the felling of the trees at midnight left them agitated and led to an immediate response.

When the issue of tree felling became visible, a group of university students organised a protest march at 11:30 a.m. They broke the foundation stone laid for constructing the IBA building there. Then, at 1:30 p.m., another group of students held a tree planting program to replace the trees that were cut down.

At 3:00 p.m., the students created a symbolic representation of a corpse by wrapping shrouds around a tree and holding a protest march. The procession concluded with a short rally before the new administration building.

Meanwhile, the students of Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall held a demonstration in the evening. They organised a protest march and briefly blocked the road adjacent to the university's Shahid Minar at 6 p.m.

Amartya Roy, General Secretary of a faction of the JU Students' Union, stated, "We have heard that IBA is planning to bring electric saws along with the university administration to cut trees. They cut down the trees in the middle of the night because we were going to protest, which is very disgraceful."

Alif Mahmud, Convener of the other faction, commented, "It is normal for trees to be cut down for the construction of buildings. We have always advocated allocating places where relatively few trees will be cut. But, ignoring the just demands of the students, the administration has resorted to manipulation."

IBA-JU Director Professor KM Zahidul Islam said, "We have a shortage of classes and seating space for teachers. The administration has allotted us a place. Around Taka 1 crore has already been spent for the preliminary tests for the construction of the building."

"It is up to the contractor company to cut the tree. As far as I know, they cut the tree early this morning. The university estate office will know about it. As I know, it was done in consultation with them", he added.

However, Estate Office Head and Deputy Registrar Abdur Rahman said, "We do not know anything about the cutting of trees. There was no discussion with us. I still don't know where the felled trees are."

Vice-Chancellor Professor Md. Nurul Alam could not be reached, though several attempts were made to contact. 

On May 23, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Md. Nurul Alam inaugurated the foundation stone of the new building of IBA-JU at that place. After that, the general students protested along with various environmental organisations of the university.

[email protected]