The Central Shaheed Minar in Barisal city has been turned into a depot of construction materials, creating resentment among the locals.
Visiting the spot, this reporter found construction workers piling the materials on the premises of the Shaheed Minar as well as the surrounding areas.
The materials are being used at the site of the under-construction Bangabandhu Auditorium, which is near the Shaheed Minar.
This has stirred resentment among the residents in the city.
Enayet Hosain Chowdhury, convener of the Shaheed Minar Sangrakshan Committee, said: “The Shaheed Minar is not only our national pride, but also a symbol of the Language Movement around the world. We should not disrespect it in anyway.”
He said he did not see why the Shaheed Minar premises were being used to keep the construction materials when there are other available places like the Judge’s quarters and circuit house.
Mizanur Rahman, secretary of the Barisal Sanskritik Sangathan Samannay Parisad condemned the disrespect of the Shaheed Minar, demanding immediate removal of the construction materials from its premises.
Nazrul Islam, president of the Barisal Reporters’ Unity, said: “As supervising authority, Barisal City Corporation is responsible for this situation. They should have allotted a place near the construction site where the workers could stock all the materials and debris. Then they would not use the Shaheed Minar premises as their storage space.”
Nurul Islam, superintendent engineer of the city authority, said the construction work of the 550-seat Bangabandhu Auditorium started in March and will be completed within the year.
“This is a temporary inconvenience for the greater good of development work,” the city corporation official said.
When contacted, Momen Shikdar, the contractor in charge of the auditorium’s construction, who is also the brother of Shahin Shikdar, Jubo League’s joint convener in the city, refused to make any comments on the matter and switched his phone off.