The New Nation - Internet Edition

Awami League MP from Chittagong-10 constituency
lying on the floor after scuffle with the members of the
law-enforcing agencies. NN photo

Police took position between the two feuding groups
of Awami League who tried to occupy the WTCC office in
Chittagong yesterday. NN photo

bdnews24.com, Chittagong

Water Transport Coordination Cell began operations on Friday after dropping MP and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mohammed Abdul Latif from the post of adviser and convenor.

Shipping minister Afsarul Amin and Chittagong City Corporation Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury attended the launching programme as chief guest and special guest respectively.

The WTCC was formed in 2005 in association with Coastal Ship Owners' Association and Bangladesh Cargo Owners' Vessel Owners' Association.

A memorandum of understanding signed with the chamber stipulated that chamber president and senior most vice-president would hold the post of adviser and convenor respectively.

But Latif, the Awami League MP from Chittagong-10, thrust himself into the post of both adviser and convenor on being elected chamber chief eight months back.

The aggrieved ship owners sat with the shipping minister who on June 3 directed senior vice president of the chamber Mohammed Abdus Salam to take the charge of convenor. Ignoring the minister's directives, Latif expressed his desire to retain the convenor's post and got related papers signed by the chamber directors.

He decided to launch WTCC operations without intermediaries of the ship owners' association while the latter retaliated by cancelling the MoU with the chamber signed four years ago

Around 10am on Friday when Latif, accompanied by some hundred supporters, attempted entering WTCC office, the police stopped them and an altercation arose.

Rebuffed by the police, the MP manhandled both Nirmalendu Bikash Chakravarti, assistant police commissioner, Double Moorings zone, and local police chief AKM Manjurul Haque, police said. Latif sustained minor injuries

Latif alleged, "Shipping minister Afsarul Amin and Chittagong Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury set the police to stop him entering WTCC office."

"At their instruction police kept beating me mercilessly until I fell on the ground."

He alleged that the minister and his men were trying to occupy WTCC office to establish a reign of plundering.

"It is because of them that the country has become a land of thieves and cheats," he said.