A police officer in Munshiganj was ‘closed’ and attached to the district police line for allegedly trying to extort money through threats of crossfire from a businessman. The accused is Mohammad Suman, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Gazaria police station. Mahfuzur Rahman Al Mamun, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Munshiganj, said the officer was closed and attached to the district police line today. The businessman, Shakil Farazi, said the police officer informed him on Sunday that a narcotic case was filed against him at Narayanganj port police station. The ASI picked him up on a white microbus on Monday morning, he said. The microbus went to a remote area of Char Baushia area. Shakil said there were three other persons in the microbus- constable Rafiqul, unidentified man who claimed to be an ASI, and the driver. “They held me at gunpoint and demanded TK 2 lakh,” he said. They snatched away his mobile phone, and money, beat him, and tried to handcuff him, he said. Meanwhile, some locals gathered on the spot and rescued him. The accused ASI, Suman, told UNB that one of his friends, a police officer at Narayanganj port police station, informed him about a case filed against the businessman. “My friend came to Gazaria, and we took Shakil there to talk in ‘private’.”  

Tea garden workers on Saturday night claimed that they postponed their indefinite strike demanding the wage hike for Tk 300 from Tk 120 until they meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina  after she returns to the the country from India.    “We didn’t call off the strike, rather we stayed it showing respect to the prime minister as we will hold a meeting with her when she comes back from India,” said Raju Goyala, president of Tea Workers Unit of Sylhet Valley after a meeting with Sylhet Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Mojibur Rahman on Saturday night.      The DC held the meeting with tea workers’ union leaders after a disparity over the continuation and postponement of the strike among the workers and their leaders.   Goyala said that they are hopeful of an acceptable decision after holding a meeting with the prime minister. Read: Tea garden owners propose wage hike by Tk 20 Workers now want PM's intervention He said workers of 23 tea gardens under Sylhet valley agreed to join their works from Sunday following the meeting with the DC. However he could not provide any information about the other gardens in the country.    Echoing Goyala, DC Mojibur Rahman also confirmed that the workers will join the works from Sunday. The general tea garden workers rejected the Tk 25 daily wage hike fixed by the government on Saturday and vowed to continue their movement for a Tk 300 daily wage. Around 8pm, the workers blocked the Choumuhona Chattar area at Sreemangal on the road connecting Moulvibazar with Dhaka-Sylhetand staged a rally and demonstrated against the decision to withdraw the strike. Many of them refused to go back to work, defying the announcement to call off the strike that came earlier from the Tea Workers Union leaders. Earlier on Saturday afternoon, after a meeting with the Labour Department, tea workers’ union leaders had withdrawn their indefinite strike after assurance of raising their wages to Tk 145 from Tk 120. After the meeting at divisional Labour Department office at Sreemangal in Moulvibazar district on Saturday, Nipen Paul, General Secretary of Tea Workers Union, said they have withdrawn the strike after getting assurance from the Prime Minister. “Our wages will be raised by Tk 25 and the Prime Minister has assured us that she will hold a meeting after her visit to India. In that meeting we will inform her about our demands. From Sunday all workers will resume their work in their respective gardens,” he said. However, he later said he never signed any agreement. The general tea garden workers opposed the announcement immediately and demonstrated in front of the Sreemangal Labour Department office for raising their wage to Tk 300. Md Abdus Shahid, a member of parliament from Moulvibazar-4 constituency who was present in the meeting said, “I have come here today as per the PM’s instruction. The Prime Minister asked to raise the wage by Tk 25 against the tea garden owners’ proposal of Tk 20 and she will hold a meeting with the workers after returning from India.” The Deputy Commissioners of Sylhet and Habiganj districts will sit in meetings with the workers’ union leaders of their respective districts Saturday afternoon. On August 9, the Bangladesh Tea Workers Union started two-hour work abstention a day demanding daily wage hike. Workers demanded an increase of their wage to Tk300, with inflation rising and the currency depreciating. The workers of 241 tea gardens across the country went on a full-scale strike on Aug 13, after four days of two-hour work abstention. Bangladesh is producing a record amount of tea every year through the toil of the tea workers. In 2021, a record 96 million kilograms of tea was produced in the country thanks to the hard labour of the underpaid tea workers. Although two agreements on increasing wages were signed, the fate of more than 1.5 lakh tea workers in the country hasn’t changed a bit.

Rajshahi University authorities have relieved acting proctor Leyakat Ali amid demonstrations by students over the death of Mahmud Hamid Himel, a student of its Graphics Design department, in a road accident on the campus on Tuesday. The university authorities have appointed Prof Ashabul Hoque of the Mathematics department as the new proctor, said a university media release signed by RU Registrar Prof Abdus Salam on Wednesday. Meanwhile, police arrested the driver of the truck that ran over Himel on the campus on Tuesday night. Driver Titu,35, was arrested from Balia village at Kashiadanga in the city around 1:30 pm, said SM Masud Parvez, the office-in-charge of Kashiadanga Police Station. Himel was killed and another student was injured as the truck carrying construction materials hit their bike in front of Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall where the construction work of a 20-storey academic building was going on. READ: RU student killed in road crash: students vandalise and set fire on vehicles His body was taken to Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) while the injured, Raihan Rimel, was being treated at the RMCH. Agitated by the incident, students set five trucks on fire, vandalised the gate of the VC’s residence and a few private vehicles on the campus at night. They even chased acting proctor Leyakat Ali as he went to the spot two hours after the accident. They also blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway near the university main gate demanding justice. Rimel, who suffered wounds in his right leg in the incident, said he and Himel were heading towards the university main gate from Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall on the bike around 8:45pm to draw money. “As there was no space to cross the truck, which was carrying stone, we stopped the bike on the left side of the road so that it could pass by. But instead of moving forward, the truck turned left, pulling the motorcycle towards the nearby field. At one stage, the wheels of the truck ran over us, crushing Himel’s head and breaking my leg,” he added. Later, the angry students set five trucks on fire at the spot, vandalised the gate of the VC’s residence and some private vehicles inside the campus. They also chased acting proctor Leyakat Ali. They blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway at the main gate of the university demanding justice. Then the protesting students placed 6-point demand, including the withdrawal of the proctor. VC Professor Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu had urged the students to sit with them at 4 pm Wednesday at Sabas Bangladesh playground of the university. But the students turned down the request and demanded that their demands be met immediately. READ: Rajshahi University dormitories reopen after 18 months Around 2.30 am, the students went on a break stopping their demonstrations. The first namaz-e-janaza of the student was held at the central mosque of the university at 11.00 am on Wednesday. Then the body was taken to his village home in Natore. Himel was buried at the central graveyard of Garikhana of Natore at 2.30 pm. Joining his namaz-e-janaza, VC Prof Golam Sabbir said Himel's family will get compensation in addition to receiving the expenses for running the case, and providing the treatment cost of the injured student, Rimel.

Agitating transport owners and workers withdrew their strike early Thursday after the government assured them of considering their reasonable demands.