A human chain and street assembly was held in protest against the harassment of the Executive Engineer of the Northern Electricity Supply (NESCO) Company's Ishwardi office in Pabna and the vandalism of his office. This human chain and street assembly took place on Thursday at around 11:30 AM in front of the main gate of the NESCO office, located beside the Ishwardi-Pabna road in the Alobag area of the town.
Following an hour-long human chain participated by about 100 officers and employees of the NESCO Ishwardi office, a street assembly was held. Speeches were given at the street assembly by linemen Nazrul Islam, Harunur Rashid, Zakir Hossain, meter reader Nazrul Islam, and others. The speakers demanded that those who harassed the Executive Engineer of the Ishwardi office and vandalized his office be brought under the law. They announced that if their demands are not met within the next 24 hours, NESCO's operations across the entire northern region will be suspended. The speakers further alleged that those involved in yesterday's agitation had outstanding electricity bills, and they carried out the attack on the NESCO office to avoid having to pay these bills.
It is noteworthy that the NESCO office in Ishwardi was besieged in protest against the alleged conspiracy to install pre-paid meters instead of existing meters. On Wednesday (October 29) at around 11:00 AM, the Sachetan Nagaribasi Forum organized the siege program. A large number of men and women from various classes and professions participated in this program. During the program, severe traffic congestion occurred on both sides of the road. Later, police arrived and brought the situation under control.
Subsequently, the agitators went to the office of NESCO's Executive Engineer, Abdun Nur. There, following an argument with the agitators, the Executive Engineer wrote and signed a paper stating, 'The installation of pre-paid meters is hereby declared permanently stopped. NESCO will, at its own responsibility, replace every pre-paid meter previously installed in Ishwardi and re-install the previous meters.' He then handed the paper to the agitators.
Since then, extreme resentment has been brewing among the officers and employees of the NESCO office. In protest against the harassment of the Executive Engineer and the attack on his office, they organized the human chain and street assembly program yesterday, Thursday.
