Some 100 printers showed demonstration in front of National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) in the city Sunday demanding payment of due bills worth around Tk 1.04 billion of printing textbooks of 2014.
They gathered under the banner of Bangladesh Mudron Shilpa Samity (BMSS) at around 11:00 am and showed agitation for about one hour blocking the busy street of Motijheel business district.
BMSS President Shahid Serniabat, Secretary AFM Shah Alam and former president Robbani Jabbar spoke at the demonstration.
The printers urged the NCTB authorities to pay the dues or they would wage tougher movement soon.
Around 400 local printers got 90 per cent work orders for printing textbooks for about 37.4 million students of primary, secondary, Ebtedayee, Dakhil and vocational institutions.
The rest 10 per cent books were printed in India and the money was paid to the Indian printers long ago.
The speakers said they delivered the textbooks for 2014 on time amid a restive political situation having paid four to five times higher transport fares.
Earlier, the BMSS issued an ultimatum of February 23 to the NCTB to pay the due bills unless they would take to the streets.
They said, "Some of our printers have been waiting for up to three months for the payment of their bills. We have been pursuing NCTB for payment but they have not been paying heed to us."
The speakers said printers have taken bank loans to meet the cost of printing, paid much higher transport fares during political turmoil, delivered books on time; so NCTB's dillydallying over payment cannot be accepted.
A total of 114 million new books were distributed among 23 million primary school students, 137.5 million books among the junior grade school students while 46 million books among 4.7 million students of the Ebtedayee, Dakhil and vocational institutions.
While inaugurating the book festival at Government Laboratory High School in the capital on January 02, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said the country has achieved another world record through distributing around 300 million pieces of the books to the students free of cost.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the textbook festival on January 1 through distributing some books among a number of students.
The government provided the printers with paper to print the books for primary and secondary students. But printers have to pay the cost of paper on their own for 4.7 million students of Ebtedayee and Dakhil and vocational institutions.
Earlier NCTB Chairman Prof M Shafiqur Rahman told the FE that out of the total bills worth Tk 4.16 billion, some Tk 3.12 billion was paid to the printing houses.
Admitting the unusual delay this year, he said, "The bills worth Tk 1.04 billion is now at the ministry of finance (MoF) for approval. After MoF approval, the NCTB would pay the bills".
