The New Nation - Internet Edition

Our correspondent, Barisal

Police foiled a planned blockade on the Barisal-Dhaka high way by the teachers and students of Barisal Government Veterinary College (BGVC) in favour of their three-week programme for realising their demand.

The teachers and students of the college have been demanding implementation of the government decision to make the college a veterinary medicine campus of Patuakhali Science and Technology University and put the college under revenue department from a development one. They are agitating since November 9 through boycotting classes, examinations, shutting down administrative and academic buildings, forming human chain, burning effigy of the Vice-chancellor of the PSTU, demonstrations and processions.

They attempted to put the planned blockade on the Barisal-Dhaka highway on Monday last, but police cordoned the campus confining the teachers and students on the campus. Babuganj police said putting barricade on the highway would be a violation of the emergency power rules(EPR) and for this reason police did not allow them to put the obstruction.

The agitating teachers said the government has approved a five-year degree course for students of veterinary medicine in 1997-98 fiscal and course was implemented in Sylhet and Chittagong Veterinary colleges.

On completion of the course, the teachers said, Sylhet veterinary college was upgraded to Sylhet Agriculture University and Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Science University.

The five-year degree course are for four veterinary colleges-Barisal, Sylhet, Chittagong and Dinajpur, but the course was not implemented in Barisal.

The PSTU authorities said absorption of the college as a faculty campus is being delayed because of fund shortage. They said the government has not placed enough fund to do that.