The Dhaka North City Corporation has cleared a big portion of a children’s park at Nayatola in Moghbazar to keep garbage container there.
Though DNCC official said at present they suspended the work for a certain period as local people strongly opposed the idea of keeping garbage containers in the park.The DNCC has already felled some old trees, including mehgani and mango trees, to clear the ground and created a 12-feet space in the park to place garbage container, said a Nayatola resident Minhaz Uddin.
He said undoubtedly the garbage container on the road cause inconvenience to the people but it does not mean that authorities should use a children’s park for dumping garbage.
Simi Khan, another resident of Nayatola, said, ‘This is the only place in this crowded area where the residents find a breathing space.’
She said the park was set up at Nayatola long ago and once upon a time the park was very wide.
Later, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority pump house and ward commissioner office were set up in park, said Rumman Haque, also a resident of the area.
He said that city corporation should select another site for dumping garbage and protect the park.
There is a makeshift tea stall, rickshaw pump shop in the park. Sand and brick chips have been kept to make ground for garbage container. A man was seen to sell rice on the park bench.
In front of the park the entrance was blocked with wastes though there was a DNCC waste truck to collect wastes.
Waste collector Modhu said local people complained about the garbage container in front of the park gate and so the DNCC authorities planned to use 40 feet the park for keeping garbage containers.
But when DNCC started preparing the garbage container ground in the park, local people complained that it would destroy the park, he said.
Modhu said local lawmaker Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal discussed many times with the local people, who at last agreed to allow only 10 feet of the park to be used for keeping garbage container though the space is not adequate for two garbage containers.
An official of the local ward commissioner office, seeking anonymity, said, ‘The whole world is working to save the environment whereas the DNCC is trying to turn a children park into a dumping depot.’
Once this park was the best among all parks of the then Dhaka City Corporation, with dalia, cosmos, rose and many other ornamental flowers adding to its beauty, he lamented.
He said that though the park already lost its real beauty, local people still use this park for morning walk and children play in the afternoon.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andalan secretary Sharif Jamil said that it was the duty of city corporations to protect and maintain open spaces, greeneries and parks of the capital from illegal occupation and use.
He said that a High Court bench in 2012 in a judgment observed that open space including parks and playgrounds was quite inadequate in the metropolis in relation to other big cities in the world.
The HC judgment said sufficient open space was essential for the sake of physical and mental health of the city dwellers.
The HC order was issued upon two writ petitions filed as public interest litigation by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association in 2003 and Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan in 2004, said Sharif Jamil.
Ward commissioner office secretary Solaiman Haque said the city corporation selected the park for keeping the container as per the request of the residents.
He said the DNCC suspended its move to use the park following a writ petition.
-With New Age input
