While the city dwellers are appreciating the government initiative in opening seven parks and playgrounds under Dhaka North City Corporation to allow people get some respite from the endless concrete of the city, a small unlisted playground under the other city corporation has been banned for locals to use.
Very recently, Tetultola field at Kalabagan Lake Circus Road was handed over to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for the construction of a police station, ignoring the repeated call from neighbourhood against the decision.
Mosharraf Hossain, who lives on the west side of the field since his birth, has a different kind of emotion attached to the playground.
“The janaja of my parents were performed in this playground. I played with friends in my childhood, spent times in this field as a youth. This is a place where I can walk in the evening safely,” said the 52-year-old.
Not only him, his wife had also spent a long time, and his children have grown up spending time in this field. For people like Mosharraf, this one bigha land playground has been a source of not only a breath of fresh air from this concrete jungle, but also was used for recreation, Eidgah, and janaja for neighbours.
Not only Mosharraf Hossain, there are hundreds of people with such stories in the area. But, very recently, a barbed wire fence was erected in the field barring the locals to use the place. A signboard in the middle of the field now says this place has been designated for construction of Kalabagan police station.
The land, though not officially listed as a playground, was handed over to the police on January 31, 2022 for construction purpose. According to the residents, a team led by the officer-in-charge of Kalabagan police station removed children from the field and barricaded the area with barbed wires.
The Dhaka district administration said in a notice on August 24, 2020, that it was proposed to acquire the property for the construction of its own building of DMP's Kalabagan police station. Ever since the notice was given, the locals have been protesting to keep the place as a field.
For months, residents have been protesting, demanding that it should be kept as it is.
“I see another example of how city dwellers are being deprived of playgrounds and parks despite the lack of open space in the capital, and now the movement of children has stopped,” said Tetultola Math Rokkha Andolan Coordinator Syeda Ratna.
Letters were sent to the Prime Minister's Office and the mayor's office of the Dhaka South City Corporation demanding protection of the ground.
“The MP from the area made an assurance but didn’t look into the matter. There is a police guard there now,” said a member of Kalabagan Mosque and Field committee.
Sajjadur Rahman, deputy commissioner (Ramna division) of DMP, said it was the government’s decision and the police also paid the necessary amount to acquire the land.
The DMP applied for the land since there was no permanent establishment for Kalabagan police station as of now, he added.
Reportedly, a former engineer of Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) used to own this land. Since he left the country, it was recorded as an abandoned property through the then president's order after the Liberation War. It then came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
According to a 2014 High Court judgement, there is a specific direction for the DC office to take action against any encroachment on open spaces or playgrounds.
According to a Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) survey, as part of formulating the revised detailed area plan (DAP), 37 out of 129 wards in Dhaka's two city corporations have no playgrounds or parks.
No parks in 30% of wards in Dhaka
As many as 30% of the wards in Dhaka city do not have any playground or park, which particularly harms the mental and physical growth of children as they have no space to play and interact with friends.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), said this place has been used as a field for 50 years, but just because it was not written on a paper, a police station will be built here. “It is not acceptable. It is an uncivilized decision, it cannot be supported by any standard of urban planning,” she said.
“Why a building for the police station in a specific location is more important than the field?” she questioned.
Contacted, an official of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works office said this place has been handed over as there is no mention of it as a playground or field in the metropolitan master plan.
He said the land was never a playground, rather was an abandoned property.
This correspondent tried contacting Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker, secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, for the last four days but came to know that he is out of the country.
Multiple high officials of the ministry were contacted as well, but they declined to comment on it saying they are not informed about the construction of the police station in the playground location.
