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Hundreds of customers staged a protest and besieged the Madarganj upazila parishad in Jamalpur for a second consecutive day, demanding the return of their deposits allegedly misappropriated by 23 cooperative societies.
Carrying sticks, the protesters gathered at the upazila parishad complex on Monday morning and continued their demonstration until around 2pm, disrupting normal activities at the government offices.
The blockade was withdrawn around 2pm following intervention by law enforcement agencies and local leaders, after which the situation gradually returned to normal.
The protesters, under the banner of “Aggrieved Customers,” marched from Gabergram intersection in Madarganj municipality towards the upazila parishad, led by a faction of the “Money Recovery Movement” headed by Shiblul Bari Raju.
The protesters alleged that they had been campaigning for nearly three years but had yet to recover their deposited money.
“We have been protesting for about three years, but ordinary customers have still not received their deposits. The movement will continue until we get our money back. If necessary, we will continue the blockade of the upazila parishad indefinitely,” said Raju, along with other customers.
Madarganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sumon Chowdhury confirmed the blockade and said local leaders and law enforcement agencies intervened to remove the protesters.
Madarganj Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Snehashish Roy said law enforcement personnel were deployed at the site to maintain order and that the situation was under control.
Madarganj Upazila Cooperative Officer Mohammad Nazmul Hasan said several of the 23 cooperative societies had collected hundreds of crores of taka from people by promising unusually high returns.
He said the societies’ directors had allegedly disappeared after taking the money over the past three years and that several cases had been filed over the matter.
The official said the alleged scam involved deposits worth hundreds of crores of taka, while protesters put the amount involved at around Tk100 crore.