SAU teachers, students protest secretariat relocation plan

The Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU) community has strongly protested a plan to relocate the secretariat to its research field, formerly used as the site of the International Trade Fair, expressing concern over the potential loss of valuable agricultural research land and environmental damage.

The university community held a human chain and a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday at 11:30am to demand the cancellation of the plan.

At the press conference, speakers said the British government acquired 268.82 acres of land in 1920 to establish the then Bengal Agricultural Institute, now Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University. The research field was part of that land.

They alleged that during the regime of HM Ershad, 28.13 acres were transferred for temporary use as the trade fair ground without following proper procedures and without adequately considering the views of teachers and students.

The university community argued that preserving the area’s historical and aesthetic character is a legal obligation under the Antiquities Act 1968, the Bangladesh National Building Code 2020 and the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for 2022–2035. They also cited the site’s proximity to the National Parliament House.

Building a large concrete Secretariat complex there, they warned, would destroy one of the capital’s major green spaces, raise temperatures across the surrounding area and disrupt the ecological balance.

The speakers said the plan had sparked widespread dissatisfaction among the university community and nearly 50,000 alumni, particularly as the university had been preparing to expand higher agricultural education and research activities on the land after a long wait.

They called on the prime minister to intervene and urged the authorities to consider the views of urban planners and the project’s environmental impact before making a decision. They also demanded that the field remain available for agricultural research and environmentally friendly educational activities.

The university community announced that it would continue peaceful protests until its demands were met.