Staff Reporter :Private university students on Saturday continued to stage demonstrations, formed human chain and blockaded Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar protesting the imposition of 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on tuition fees.They also threatened to go for tougher movement if the government does not withdraw VAT on tuition fees immediately.”We will announce fresh tougher programme if our demand is not met immediately,” Faruk Ahmed, central coordinator of ‘No Vat on Education’ warned.Earlier on July 4, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a notification imposing 7.5 per cent VAT on the tuition fees of the private universities and medical colleges in the country.The agitating students staged demonstrations and formed human chain in city’s Pantha Path, Mohakhali, Badda, Notun Bazar, Banani and Dhanmondi areas and blockaded Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar.Apart from the capital Dhaka, the students also held protest rallies and formed human chains in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet.Meanwhile, the owners of private universities on Saturday requested the agitating students to return their respective classrooms.”The VAT has been imposed on the universities. I’m calling upon all the students to withdraw movement and to go back to the classes soon,” Private University Association President Sheikh Kabir Hossain told journalists in a press conference at Gulshan Club in city. He heavily came down on the NBR for their statement that said the VAT has been imposed on the university authorities. “I’m urging the government to review the decision of imposing VAT on the income of private universities,” he said. Finance Minister AMA Muhith at function in city on Saturday said as the 7.5 per cent VAT imposed on private universities, the authorities would have to pay it.”The university authorities will have to pay the VAT and the students will not have to pay it,” he said while addressing a function at Bangla Academy. He asked the students to remain alert so that the university authorities would not be able to charge additional fees from them. In capital Dhaka, students of Daffodil University brought out a possession on Mirpur Road in front of the main gate of the university around 11:00am, halting traffic in the area creating a long tailback. At about 12:30pm, a procession brought out by the students of State University from in front of the university near Kalabagan Bus Stand. The procession paraded different streets and terminated on the university’s main campus at Dhanmondi, creating snarl. Likewise, World University students brought out a procession from Asad Gate chanting slogans against the VAT imposition on tuition fees. Students of State University of Bangladesh, Stamford University and University of Development Alternative (UODA) demonstrated on Dhanmondi’s Satmasjid road.Besides, the students have blockaded Dhaka-Aricha highway in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, in continued demonstration against the 7.5 percent VAT on tuition fees.Over 500 students of Gono University took to the highway in Baishmile area around noon and blockaded the highway hilting traffic movement on the high way.Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of private university students took to the streets of Dhaka demanding withdrawal of VAT on their tuition fees, triggering unprecedented traffic chaos forcing the capital to come to a standstill for almost the entire day.In Chittagong, around students of BGC Trust University tried to blockade Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway around 10:45am at Chandnaish upazila local but police foiled their programme.In Sylhet, students took position near Court Point around noon and held a protest rally. They also chanted anti-VAT slogans. However, no untoward incident took place during the period. In Rajshahi, the agitating students in a procession paraded different city streets including Shaheb Bazar and Mani Chattar.
