Concrete replaces oasis

Once Dhaka was adorned with several hundred ponds. Like canals, only a handful exist now. But they are also in death throes due to negligence of the authorities concerned. Although, according to the Field, Open Space, Park and Natural Water Body Protection Act 2000, filling up of any water body including pond is illegal, it's going on unabated. The Daily Star found 63 ponds in the maps of undivided Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) in its 28 wards out of 90. A survey for the map was carried out between 2003 and 2011. But many of the water bodies were filled up before the period and also even after the survey. We are publishing the fifth report of the series today covering the then DCC ward-86, which is now ward-50 of the Dhaka South City Corporation.

There used to be three ponds under ward-86 of the undivided Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), but it is impossible to find the water bodies anymore since all of them have been filled up.

Two of them were filled up by DCC and the third one was by its owner.

Now, a community centre, a school and several buildings stand firm on the filled up pond land.

The names of the ponds were Chandankotha Pukur, Maita Pukur and Boro Pukur.

However, the DCC map, which was published after a survey carried out from February to April 2006, showed that there was only one pond in the area as two others were already filled up.

Ward 86 -- now Ward 50 of Dhaka South City Corporation -- comprises south and west Jatrabari, north-west and south-east Jatrabari and Wapda Colony. The area is around 0.859 sq km.

CHANDANKOTHA PUKUR

The 103-decimal pond existed since the British period.

According to locals, during monsoon, water overflowed the banks of the water body, creating links with the canals.

But after construction of the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment in the 60s, the canal mouths were blocked, which also affected the pond, they added.

Though the pond was still there in the 70s, quality of the water deteriorated, said Mohammad Mamun, a local.

After the independence, the pond was mainly used for fish cultivation, he said. The water body was owned by 16 people. Three of the owners left the country, he added.

Mamun said his family was one of the owners of the water body.

The panchayet (local governing body) in 1987/88 donated the land to the government making it a waqf (endowment) property for building a field to hold Eid jamaat (congregation).

But the DCC filled up the pond in 1993/94 and built a community centre instead.

Chandankotha Pukur turned into a community centre. Photos: Rashed Shumon

“We are still giving khajna (tax) for the land but no eidgah field is there. Also, the 13 of us [owners] were promised a katha of land each, which we did not get,” he claimed.

The panchayet used to cultivate fish in the pond and pay tax from the money they got after selling the fish, he claimed.

Ayub Ali Sardar, a resident of the area, claimed that the names of the owners were included in the cadastral survey (CS) records. The 70-year-old also alleged that the DCC did not agree to fill up the pond without constructing a community centre there.

Aiub alleged that an influential local grabbed two bighas of the pond land by making false documents and erected structures on it around five years back.

He said the residents of the area filed two cases against it and a legal battle is ongoing. An Eidgah field will be constructed soon after recovering the land.

The two bighas were on the western side of the pond, he added.

MAITA POND

The 47-decimal pond existed even in the 80s.

Though the water body was under the Dhaka deputy commissioner's office and existed as Khas land, DCC filled it up partially to set up a water pump of Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) in the 90s.

Most of the pond was still there even after setting up the pump. But drug peddlers and addicts used the area as their den, claimed Ayub Ali Sardar, whose family has been living in the area for over 50 years.

Afterwards, a school was constructed on the pond land in 2011. Aiub claimed that he took the initiative to construct the school with the help of a local lawmaker.

The pond was filled up by the DCC around the same time Chandankotha Pukur was filled up, he added.

Boro Pukur replaced by buildings.

BORO PUKUR

Like the pond, the name of the area ceased to exist as the owner renamed the area Surujnagar after filling it up around 15 to 20 years back, said locals.

They said the association filled up the water body in 1990 and renamed it Surujnagar.

Mohammad Atiqullah, president of Surujnagar Owners' Association, said, “My grandfather Haji Abdul Gafur purchased the land from two jaminders (landlord) -- Ananda Hiru Boshak and Haridash Boshak.”

“Afterwards, my father Suruzzamal constructed the buildings on the land as the pond was about to be grabbed and others had started to fill up portions of it,” he claimed.

He said the pond water was clean and used by many. But the pond on around four bighas of land was getting polluted after construction of the DND embankment in 1961.

Twenty eight buildings have been constructed on the land.

Ayub Ali, a 70-year-old local, said, “Like many others, I used to swim and catch fish in the pond.”

“You should have seen the size of the fish I caught there,” said a nostalgic Ayub.

(Edited by Hasan Meer)