Faridpur Correspondent

Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Sunday warned that the government will enforce the law to clear roads and railways in Bhanga upazila of Faridpur district if the ongoing blockade is not resolved shortly.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the law and order committee at the Secretariat, the adviser said the protesters should present their demands through proper channels instead of holding millions of people hostage.

“This cannot be tolerated. If they do not resolve the issue by this afternoon, we will apply the law to at least clear the roads,” he said.

The protesters continued the blockade programme for the fifth day on Sunday, demanding reinstatement of the Faridpur-4 parliamentary constituency boundary.

The demonstrators blocked seven points on two highways and three points on rail tracks, causing severe disruption to transport and immense suffering for people across 21 districts in the country’s southwest region.

At around 9am, protesters stopped the Nakshikatha train at Hamirdi railway crossing on the Rajbari–Faridpur–Dhaka line, forcing passengers to disembark.

Expressing frustration over the disruption, passenger Bachchu Matubber from Rasulpur village in Saltha upazila of Faridpur said he was forced to get off while travelling to Dhaka with a sack of onions for his daughter.

The demonstrations follow the Election Commission’s recent gazette, which redrew boundaries for 46 parliamentary constituencies ahead of the upcoming national election.

According to the gazette, Algi and Hamirdi unions of Bhanga upazila, previously under Faridpur-4, have been attached to Nagar Kanda upazila under Faridpur-2.