Old Dhaka jail site for museum, JnU halls to be built in Keraniganj

A cabinet committee meeting has finalised the decision this [Monday] afternoon, a cabinet member seeking anonymity told journalists. He said, “The old jail is a heritage place. Bangabandhu was once confined in this jail and the four national leaders were killed here. So the place is a part of our history. To conserve the memory, there will be a museum on the site along with a conference centre, shopping mall and a park for the locals. The land will be used for nothing else.” During the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the education minister what measures he had taken about the ongoing demand for dormitories by Jagannath University students. In reply Nurul Islam Nahid told the PM that a boys’ dormitory will be built on the 25-bigha university land in Keraniganj and a girls’ dormitory close to the old-Dhaka campus. Presently, a 20-storey administrative building is under construction on the campus. A slightly irked premier then asked the education minister to keep all the dormitories, administrative buildings and other accommodations on an undivided piece of land, as one public university should have. She told the minister to make a elaborate plan in this regard. The prime minister also inquired if there was more land to purchase so that all the new buildings could be built in Keraniganj. She asked the education minister to work on that.