The officials of Islamic University continued abstaining from work for a ninth consecutive day on Sunday on the campus in Kushtia demanding to press home their three point-charter of demands.

Around more than two hundred officers from different offices and departments joined in the work abstention programme.

They staged a sit-in programme in front of the university's administration building from 9:00am to 2:00pm and chanted different slogans to press home their demands.

Also read: In-person classes to resume at IU Tuesday

Their demands are- increased pay scale, extension of retirement age from 60 to 62 years and a change in working hours from 8am to 2pm instead of 9am to 4:30pm.

Speaking in the protest programme, the officials said that they had been agitating in different times since 2016 to implement their demands.

The administration had always stopped the movement with false promises but they did not take any effective decision regarding them.

They started abstaining from work for one hour from February 19. To intensify the movement, they started a five-hour strike from Saturday.

IU Officers' Association president ATM Emdadul Alam said that the officials of different universities including Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar had been enjoying the facilities. The IU administration only gave them assurance when they had been agitating for the implementation of their demands.  But they did not take any initiative.

Also read:  1,270 seats still vacant at IU

They would continue their demonstration until their demands were met, he added.

IU vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam said that they had no objection regarding the demands of the officials.  As there had a financial issue here, the issue will have to be through UGC. 

They asked UGC to form a committee with their office representatives and initiatives would be taken regarding the officials through a process,' the VC said.