The High Court has ordered the authorities concerned to stop within 24 hours the ongoing construction work of a car park demolishing part of a wall of the historic Lalbagh Fort.
The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman passed the order yesterday following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.
The court also issued a rule upon the authorities as to why they should not be directed to protect the heritage site and take the wall back to its original state.
Directorate General of Directorate of Archaeology, its deputy director, curator of the Lalbagh Fort and officer-in-charge of Lalbagh police have been asked to comply with the order and respond by two weeks, petitioner’s counsel Manzill Murshid told reporters.
After the hearing, the bench asked court officials to communicate the order through fax and telephone to the government authorities immediately.
Part of the 400-year-old fort’s wall was demolished recently to build a car park at the cost of Tk30 lakh. The action has drawn protests from different quarters.
On October 26, 2011, the High Court had ordered the authorities concerned to remove illegal structures inside and around the fort. But the order has been very weakly enforced, and the fort and other historic structures around the city are routinely encroached upon for commercial purposes.
When contacted, Director General of the DoA Altaf Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The construction work was halted two days back. But as the High Court has already ordered to stop the work, now we will renovate the wall.”
Asked if they had any alternative plan to arrange the parking place in any nearby place, the DG said: There is a ground named Shaheed Ali Eidgah Field...we are thinking to relocate the parking place there. As the field is owned by the city corporation, we will seek their approval.”
Locals said the construction materials had not been removed from the place yet.
