The rooftop garden of Dhaka’s Siddheshwari, the publisher of environment and climate news portal Green Page, was vandalized due to prior enmity

The president of the flat committee, Dr. Zahid, demolished the roof garden established by Mrs. Fatema Zinnat. The Garden was on the roof of her residence, located at 62 Siddheshwari Road, Dhaka. The actions of manager Babul destroyed the garden.

On October 17, 2023, Manager Babul brought laborers from outside and destroyed it secretly in the early hours of the day. The roof garden was very visually pleasing and pleasant, and the natural beauty was also enjoyed by the residents of other flats living in the apartment.

The roof garden had various types of flowers and fruit trees. Among the flower trees were Bela and four-color Tub- roses, China-box, and other spring flowering trees, and among the fruit trees were 7/8 fruiting papaya tree, two fruiting guava trees, one fruiting pomegranate, 1 Thai Kadbel, 1 fruiting Thai grapefruit, 1 lemon tree. There were several other fruit trees.

At the time of the garden’s destruction, every fruit tree was full of young and ripe fruit and fruit blossoms. He has spent a lot of money and labor to plant this garden.

Originally, As an environmental activist, she created the roof garden to develop the country’s environment and food production in every place, inspired by the call of the honorable Prime Minister.

Views of the roof garden before demolition

On October 17, 2023, around 10 o’clock, when Mrs. Fatema Zinnat was told the bad news by her private driver at her house, she ran to the roof and saw the wreckage.

She went to the roof and saw that the manager of the flat, Babul, had cut down all the trees with 4/5 workers led by him.

Immediately after felling the trees, the soil tubs were smashed and the soil from the drums was removed and the soil and drums were sold elsewhere and the trees, along with the felled trees, were carried off the roof by ladders and pickups and systematically destroyed the signs, so that no legal action could be taken against the perpetrators.

The ruins of the roof garden

Regarding previous enmity, it is known that Mr. Zahid has been holding the post of president of the apartment committee for the last twenty years. Although there is a flat committee, he bypasses the committee and takes all the decisions for the management and maintenance of the apartment himself.

Without the decision of the committee, without any quotation, the manager spends the money collected from the apartment owners in the name of maintenance and repair of the apartment. He never gives anyone the account of the income and expenses of the apartment.

At the recent Flat Committee’s annual meeting, Mrs Fatema Zinnat’s husband, Engineer MD Mahfuzur Rahman, raised a question regarding this issue. President Mr.

Zahid got angry with him. Since then, he and the manager, Babul, have been misbehaving with Mrs. Fatema Zinnat and her husband in various apartment activities.

He destroyed their roof garden and fruit trees, which had ripe and young fruits, in revenge, causing significant environmental damage.

Dhaka city is becoming more and more crowded. The increasing number of people has led to a lack of space for accommodation. As a result, people have started living in cramped quarters such as the rooftops. With the rising number of settlements, the environment in the city is being destroyed.

City life is getting boring in the scorching heat. The temperature is rising to an alarming degree. Almost 60 percent of the city’s space is occupied by empty roofs, fueling the temperature rise. Around 70% of Dhaka city comprises residential and commercial areas. This contributes significantly to the high temperature in the city.

In such a situation, there is no alternative to planting trees to keep Dhaka habitable. Experts suggest implementing roof gardens on the roofs of all houses and offices to improve the environment and reduce the city’s temperature.

Experts say that if all rooftop gardens in the city are implemented, the temperature can be reduced by 7 degrees Celsius.

About 60% of Dhaka city is covered by concrete structures, causing a temperature rise. Dhaka has much higher environmental pollution than other major cities due to its high population, over-urbanization, vehicles, water bodies, and loss of vegetation.

To improve Dhaka’s living conditions and environment, the government, NGOs, and environmental workers are implementing initiatives to create roof gardens on buildings. This helps reduce the temperature and make the city more bearable.

Dhaka South City Corporation has already announced a 10% reduction in municipal taxes to encourage roof gardens. To encourage rooftop gardening, the Hon’ble Prime Minister is giving various financial awards for rooftop gardening.

However, the founder and publisher of the news portal Green Page related to the country’s environmental movement, Mrs. Fatema Zinnat’s roof garden has been destroyed at the hands of disguised decent people like

If we cannot build a movement against those who destroy nature and the environment, and if society cannot prevent those who do evil deeds like them, the ongoing movement to prevent the world’s climate change and environmental pollution cannot be accelerated.