Protest in Nageshwari demanding cancellation of fertilizer dealers' appointment
Kurigram Correspondent
Local BNP leaders and activists staged a human chain and protest rally in Nageshwari, Kurigram, protesting the appointment of several leaders of the now-banned Awami League and Jatiya Party as fertilizer dealers.
The protesters alleged financial irregularities and corruption in the appointment process and demanded the cancellation of the appointments. They also protested what they described as widespread irregularities and corruption involving Nageshwari Upazila BNP Convener Golam Rasul Raja and Member Secretary Mokhlesur Rahman in appointing individuals affiliated with the Awami League and its ally, the Jatiya Party.
The protest rally began at around 5:00 pm on Monday from Balditari Mor in Nageshwari Municipality and proceeded towards College Mor, where it turned into a rally.
Addressing the gathering, the speakers said that although some leaders might have forgotten the repression and misrule of the Awami League over the past 17 years, grassroots BNP activists had not forgotten them. They warned that the alleged rehabilitation of former ruling-party figures and their allies at the expense of BNP members in exchange for money would not be accepted under any circumstances.
The speakers further claimed that, among the 15 fertilizer dealer positions covering the upazila’s 14 unions and one municipality, 10 had been awarded to leaders affiliated with the Awami League and the Jatiya Party.
They also alleged that the appointments were made through irregularities involving Mokhlesur Rahman, a member of the Upazila Fertilizer and Seed Monitoring Committee and Member Secretary of Nageshwari Upazila BNP, and Golam Rasul Raja, Convener of the Upazila BNP.
Those who addressed the rally included Adam Ali, Member Secretary of the Municipal Krishak Dal; Jahangir Alam and Alamgir Hossain, Joint Conveners of the Upazila Swechchhasebak Dal; Mainuddin, a former Jubo Dal leader; and student leader Aktaruzzaman Rashed, among others.
