This building has been used as a hostel of Pabna Government Commercial College since 1984 but Pabna Zila Parishad on Sunday night asked the students to vacate the dormitory, claiming ownership of the building. Photo: STAR

Students of Pabna Government Commercial College yesterday staged demonstration as zila parishad claimed the ownership of the college hostel building and asked the resident students to vacate the dormitory.

They also besieged the zila parishad office and then submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, seeking his intervention in this regard.

The commercial college has been using an 'abandoned' building beside Pabna Zila Parishad office as its dormitory since 1984. College sources said some officials of the zila parishad entered the hostel on Sunday night and asked the resident students to leave the hostel as early as possible as the property belongs to the zila parishad.

Contacted, Principal Md Amjad Hossain said the college authorities have been using the building as its dormitory since 1984. Twenty-two students are now living at the hostel and the authorities are paying land tax and utility bills regularly.

Hostel Superintendent Md Abdur Rob said the college authorities had earlier urged the government to build a three-storey hostel building for the student, but the government is yet to take any step in this regard.

As many as 282 students are studying at Pabna Government Commercial College and 22 of them are now living at the building beside the zila parishad office, the hostel superintendent said, adding that the zila parishad asked the students to leave the hostel without prior notice.

When contacted, Chief Executive Officer of Pabna Zila Parishad Md Abdullah Al Mamun said the commercial college is using the building as its hostel on one acre of land of the zila parishad. “We need the land to build a building as development work of Pabna Zila Parishad is going on,” he said.