Call to evict squatters from parks and grounds in Dhaka to protect the environment
Twenty-four environmental groups urged the Dhaka North City Corporation to cancel the contract for parks and grounds and to evict squatters to uphold civil rights. The speakers said that there are not enough grounds for people in the capital.
Commercial clubs are occupying the limited available grounds and constructing permanent infrastructure. Among them are Shaheed Tajuddin Memorial Park and Dhanmondi Ground.
State-funded parks and grounds are being occupied by a few individuals who are conducting business there. Memberships to all these grounds are being sold. Which is extreme irregularities and corruption.
Environmental organizations formed a human chain in front of the Dhaka North City Corporation on December 26.
The speakers said that the real example of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha disobeying the court’s instructions to occupy the field and park is the Shaheed Taj Uddin Memorial Park on Gulshan Road 103/109 in Dhaka. Section 5 of the Fields, Parks and Reservoirs Act 2000 in Bangladesh prohibits renting, leasing, or transferring fields and parks.
This park has been illegally leased several times in the past, in view of which a case was filed in the court and the court directed not to lease the field.
Dhaka North City Corporation, without following the court’s instructions, appointed the Youth Club as the operator to manage the park. The club is violating the master plan by building infrastructure on the field and claiming it as its own property.
Currently, five fields have been allocated to different companies and institutions, restricting public access. Despite complaints after years, no government agency is taking any action.
Speakers called for the removal of illegal structures in all fields and parks, including Shaheed Taj Uddin Memorial Park, and for these areas to be transformed into official playing fields and parks.
The field should be accessible to the public. The club’s illegally occupied football turf should be removed, and a library and seating area for the community should be built.
The speakers demanded the formation of a committee to formulate an ordinance to amend the long-term conservation law of the city’s fields, parks and reservoirs, the formulation of policies for field and park management, the formulation of a list of all fields and parks in the country and funding for the conservation and management of fields and parks.
A written memo was submitted to the City Corporation at the meeting’s end to protect fields and parks.
The protest was organized by the joint initiative of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), Aid Foundation, The Earth Foundation, BARCIK, Bangladesh Cycle Lane Implementation Council, BCGD, CAPS, CLPA Trust, Citizen Network, Chayatal Bangladesh, Dwip Unnayan Sangstha, Disability and Development Partners , GREENFORCE, KURDS, MASTUL Foundation , ️Nederlands Albert Schweitzer Fonds (NASF), National Development Foundation, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Environment and Environment, Tentultala Field Conservation Movement, Pratyasha Anti-drug’s Club, WBB Trust, and Poribesh Beekshan.
