The newspapers and television channels have all got tired of running stories after stories on how almost all the parks in the capital have been nearly destroyed.
The authorities concerned, on the other hand, have never been concerned enough to remedy the situation.
The English Road Park, also known as the Nayabazar Park, in the older part of Dhaka is just another example of utter negligence on the part of the authorities, Dhaka City Corporation to be specific.
The residents of the area could never be optimistic enough to expect the authorities to beautify the park, since, they alleged that the authorities concerned had never even bothered to free the park from the grabbers.
Mahadi-ul-Morshed Bappa, an inhabitant of the nearby Tantibazar intersection, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Once upon a time the residents of the nearby areas used to go to the park for recreation. But nowadays, grabbers, transport companies, drug addicts and sex workers have made that impossible.”
Hamida Naz, a resident of the Noyabazar area, said: “It [the English Road Park] does not look like a park at all. Rather it looks like a dumping ground and a truck station.”
The fact that there is no boundary wall around the park has made it totally impossible to distinguish it from the adjoining areas.
On one side of the park, transport companies have illegally grabbed land to set up a truck and pickup van parking area.
On the other side of the park, the authorities themselves, named Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), have formed a garbage dumping ground.
For someone new in the area, it may seem that the authorities themselves are collaborating with the grabbers.
“The owners of the transport companies are actually influential locals. It is upon their orders that we park vehicles in this place [the park]. As far as I know, they have never taken any kind of permission from the city corporation,” the driver of a truck told the Dhaka Tribune.
“However, personally I want to see the park free from grabbing. I want the authorities to bring it back to its original state,” he added.
He also said the sex workers, nearly a hundred in number, get active in the area. The dark roofs of the passenger sheds had been a secure place for their business at night, he said.
When contacted, Md Jamal Hossain, chief estate officer of DSCC, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have given the responsibility of beautification of the park to the revenue department. So you must contact them if you want to know in detail about the park.”
Md Yousuf Ali Sardar, deputy chief revenue officer of DSCC, claimed of already having taken initiatives for the beautification of the park. “We have contracted a private firm called Nodi Enterprise for the beautification work.”
“As part of the development work, they [Nodi Enterprise] have already started removing garbage from the park,” he said.
Yousuf Ali also said: “We do not know anything about illegal parking of vehicles in the park. No one has ever taken permission from us for parking vehicles in the park.”