GAZIPUR: People by the thousands took to the street in the district Saturday damaging hundreds of vehicles and setting fire to a godown of a garment factory in protest against implementation of the much-debated Detailed Area Plan (DAP) sponsored by RAJUK for expansion of the capital.

Agitators have been on the move for the last couple of days against RAJUK’s different development projects and the situation aggravated when thousands of people led by public representative AKM Mojammel Huq MP took a defiant stance.

Leaders of different other political parties in Gazipur also joined in the anti-DAP demonstrations which created a huge traffic congestion on the highly busy Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, witnesses said.

Angry demonstrators damaged over a hundred public vehicles that brought traffic on the highway to a standstill. The law-enforcing agencies looked helpless trying to stop the street violence as it went beyond their control.

Amid the melee, an angry mob set fire to tyres and a factory warehouse, as anarchy reigned supreme.

Later, an assurance from the Prime Minister brought the situation under control.       

Witnesses and police said hundreds and thousands of people from different villages and unions, including Gachha and Basan, in processions joined a rally on the Dhaka-bypass road at Bhogra in Gazipur sadar the afternoon that was organized by a local committee formed to resist RAJUK’s outreaching development projects in Gazipur.

“As police tried to control the angry mob, chase and counter-chase between police and the demonstrators erupted, creating panic among the commoners,” says a spot account of the raging rampage.
 

The trouble was tamed when a message from the Prime Minister was conveyed to the demonstrators over the walkie-talkie of the Police.

Addressing the rally, AKM Mojammel Huq MP said they would not allow the government to acquire the land of the district.

“RAJUK has been acquiring land to serve a rich section of society. We will take step against those who were behind the move,” said the lawmaker of the ruling Awami League.

An angry mob damaged and set fire to Rose Sweater factory near the bypass as the workers of the factory declined to join in their demonstrations, second officer of Joydevpur police station Delwar Hossain said.

Later, firefighters from the district rushed to the spot and took control over the fire.

Chaired by Basan Union Parishad chairman M Saiful Islam Sarker Babul, the rally was addressed by former state minister Prof MA Mannan, Jatiya party presidium member Brigadier (rtd) Kazi Mahmud Hasan, Jatiya Party Gazipur unit president Abdus Sattar Mia, Gachha UP chairman Sirajul Islam, BSD leader Osman Ali, Awami League leader Mohiuddin Ahmed and Abdul Quiyum.

BDST 2200 HRS, JULY 3, 2010.