Mughal Edgah, the oldest surviving Mughal monument in the capital, has witnessed large portions of its open space falling into the hands of outside forces over the years, so much so that the site is now hardly distinguishable from the structures built illegally using its land.
Popularly known as Dhanmondi Eidgah, the open-air mosque lost its space mainly to three structures on the western side of it, including two built by Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA).
The other structure, a one-storey building housing an Islamic research centre, is owned by the mosque committee.
The eidgah is a listed archaeological site of the department of archaeology and a waqf estate making it an inalienable public property. Its history goes back to 1640 when it was built by Mughal ruler Subedar Shah Shuja Dewan Bin Abdul Kashim.
There are allegations that years of neglect and carelessness led to encroachments on the open space, used twice a year by the Muslims for their congregational prayers during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.
DPDC built its building about 57 years ago to set up a customer service centre there whereas DWASA built a water pumping station (Modes Zone 3) about 15 years ago neither with permission from the authorities concerned, sources said.
Closely adjoining the two structures is a third one originally built by Bangladesh Border Guard as part of its open market sale programme. It was then taken over by the masque committee which converted it into a research centre called Dhanmondi Eidgah Mosque Research Centre.
The structure, too, was built without any prior consultation with the department of archaeology and approval of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, sources said.
A field investigation by Dhaka Tribune, however, also found existence of illegally built makeshift tea stalls in and around the eidgah ground, supervised by the DPDC and DWASA staff members.
Recently, the archaeology department reportedly took an initiative to eliminate illegal structures from the ground and talked with all the parties involved.
“During a meeting on September 14, we talked with the local MP Fazle Noor Tapash, the mosque committee, DPDC and DWASA delegates and also local dignitaries about removing the illegal structures,” said Dr Md Ataur Rahman, regional director of the department.
“The mosque committee ensured that they would immediately demolish the structure housing the centre. But the two government agencies said they would take steps in consultation with the ministries concerned. We are yet to see any development in this regard.”
Atiqul Habib, general secretary of the eidgah committee, said, “The committee agreed to demolish the research centre with immediate effect and we will start the work within 2-3 days.”
DPDC Managing Director Brig Gen Md Nazrul Hasan (retd) said: “The department of archaeology asked us to remove our information and complaint centre from the eidgah. We have already informed the ministry of power, energy and mineral resource of the matter.”
However, officials of DWASA could not confirm any progress following the September 14 meeting. Taksim A Khan, managing director of the department, initially said he knew of no development but couldn’t contacted for further comments later, despite several attempts over phone.
Considering its religious, historical and heritage value, the department of archaeology is currently renovating the ground in light of its original Mughal design.
It has also plans to enclose the ground with boundary walls from all sides, except the eastern side where there is a four-storey modern mosque, built in recent years, and another one-storey building for children to come to and memorise Quran.