Market gets priority over fresh air

How many parks does Dhaka city need? According to rules, it should be 92, one for each ward. 
But we have only 54, with several of them having ceased to exist and many threatened. At least 10 parks have been replaced with a community centre, kitchen market, mosque, rickshaw garage or truck parking lot, mostly by the city corporation itself. This is the picture when an urban expert, Prof Nazrul Islam, says every 10,000 city residents need an open space of four acres -- park or playground -- for healthy development of children and prevention of diseases related to physical activities. The Daily Star reports how and why we are squeezing our breathing spaces in our metropolis where 15 million people cram in. The fifth report of the series is published today. 

It would be hard to bring to mind that the widely known Karwan Bazar kitchen market was a children's park even only eight years ago, thanks to the Dhaka city corporation that allotted the parkland to a traders' association for establishing the market.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) handed over the park, which was demarcated in its master plan, to the city corporation in the 1980s to maintain it properly.

"We handed over the children's park for its proper maintenance but the corporation misused the park by allotting it to the traders for other purposes," said Emdadul Islam, immediate past chief engineer of Rajuk.

But the corporation allotted the parkland to "Karwan Bazar Khudra Kanchamal Arat Byabsayee Bohumukhi Samabaya Samity Limited" reportedly due to the influence of a BNP leader of the area who made a huge profit by selling the shops, said Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) sources. At least 104 shops were allotted on September 9, 2005, added the official.

Some traders at Karwan Bazar alleged that the BNP leader along with some other influential persons of the area sold each of the 104 shops for at least Tk 5 lakh.

This newspaper withholds the name of the BNP leader, as he was not available for contact.

The children's park had various rides, swings, and slides. Even local traders used the park to spend their leisure but now there is no open space in the area, said Amjad, a trader.

The park also enhanced the beauty of the area, said Anowar, another trader of Karwan Bazar.

Chief Executive Officer of DNCC BM Enamul Haque claimed that they are taking steps to protect the parks of their areas. The city corporation has a plan to shift the whole Karwan Bazar kitchen market to three other places -- Jatrabari, Mohakhali and Aminbazar -- and the process is under way.