Although Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) claims to have spent around Tk9 crore for the development of playgrounds and parks in the past two fiscal years, existing public recreational places under its jurisdiction show no significant reflection of such claims.
The Dhaka Tribune has found that the nine public playgrounds under the DSCC are virtually off-limits to children and youngsters due to illegal occupations and lack of monitoring, development and maintenance by the authorities.
At a time when the media are repeatedly exposing how and why almost all playgrounds and parks in the capital have been turned to ruins, the city corporation authorities are yet to take any noticeable steps to find a remedy to the problem apart from announcing large allocations in their budgets.
In its budget placement programme for FY2012-13, DSCC showed a total expenditure for playgrounds and parks to be at Tk4.6 crore, where it claimed of spending Tk40 lakh for Shahid Zia Shishu Park adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan, Tk3 crore for 10 memorials honouring Sector Commanders of the Liberation War in Usmani Udyan and Tk1.2 crore for the city’s public playgrounds’ renovations.
The DSCC’s budget for FY2013-14 unveiled that a total of Tk4.37 was spent for developing playgrounds and parks, where Tk21 lakh was spent for Zia Shishu park, Tk2.36 for other parks and Tk1.8 crore for all playground.
In the current fiscal year, the local government body allocated Tk1.3 crore for the same purpose.
However, in reality city dwellers found no benefit from the DSCC’s budget allocation as the taxpayers money never reached the development work due to several irregularities.
Sources at the city corporation also alleged that a handsome amount of the allocation usually ends up in the pockets of few designated officials of DSCC’s Engineering Department.
During a recent visit to these playgrounds and parks, this Dhaka Tribune correspondent found that many of them were now being used for city corporations’ infrastructural development purposes while some were being used illegally by private clubs for their own purposes.
The rest, although unoccupied, remain in a sorry state for several years due to the city corporation’s negligence and irregularities.
Two playgrounds in Dhupkhola and Golapbagh have remained off-limits for children since 2010 as these open spaces were being used to keep construction materials and equipment used for the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover.
In Dhamnondi, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd authorities have taken control of Dhanmondi playground despite repeated directives from the High Court to keep it free as a public place. Sources say the club has itself been illegally occupying the ground since 1962 with city corporation authorities continually playing a dubious role in this regard.
Earlier when asked about the Dhanmondi playground, DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md Ansar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “Present infrastructural constructions inside Dhanmondi playground had been conducted by the Local Government Division, but not run by the DSCC.”
The Kalabagan playground in the capital has been under the control of Kalabagan Krira Chakra, thus the club authority had been maintaining the playground.
Moreover, Sadek Hossain Khoka playground, Lalbagh Kellar Mor playground and Bangladesh Matth, among others, have been turned to ruins.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, locals in these areas said the playgrounds become muddy and go under water during the rainy season, discouraging children to play there. They also claimed that the city corporation had taken no initiatives to renovate these open places for a long time.
At the same time, no major development was found in existing parks while few parks have been transformed for commercial purposes.
Shahid Zia Shishu park, children amusement park adjoining the Suhrawarthy Udyan at Shahbagh in the capital, has not seen any major change or development since its establishment, although the city corporation authority said they sent some Tk61 lakh for the park in last two fiscal years.
The historic Suhrawardy Udyan, one of the capital’s few green spaces, where Shishu Park is located, is now full of concrete structures due to poor maintenance.
An official of Zia Shishu park, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The existing rides of the park had been there since its establishment.
We just carry out repair work and maintenance to keep the rides functional.”
Contacted, DSCC Chief Estate Officer Khalid Ahmed said the corporation’s Estate Department’s functions are to maintain and administrate the municipal property and land, also to lease the lands or cancel a leased property.
“All the development activities of the corporation is maintained by the Engineering department, so you can contact them,” he suggested the correspondent. When contacted over the phone, Chief Engineering Md Zahangir Alam refused to answer queries of this correspondent regarding the issue.
“I do not understand what you are saying, you can write what you think, understand?... or if you want to know more, you can come to my office later,” he said.
Earlier, this correspondents tried to meet Zahangir several times, he was unavailable at his office.