Beautification of the Gulshan- Banani- Baridhara Lake missed the deadline as the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha failed to recover land from illegal possession.
Taken in 2010, the lake beautification project was scheduled to be completed by June. Rajuk had taken the project to free the lake from pollution by evicting illegal occupants.
Slow progress made the lake more polluted, said experts.
New Age found waste collectors separating litter on Gulshan Lake’s bank near the Gulshan Shooting Club.
While passing by the BRAC University, pedestrian Russell Majumder described the pitch dark dirty water of the Gulshan-Banani Lake as nauseating.
The authorities take no interest in keeping the lake clean, he said.
No action is taken against litter throwers, he said.
From Banani Bridge at Road No 11 one could see sewerage pipes discharging household sewer into the otherwise placid lake.
Bangladesh Poribesh Andalan joint secretary Sharif Jamil said that Gulshan Lake was once connected with Uttara Lake, Dhanmondi Lake and Hatirjheel.
In fact, what was a long canal had been turned into several disconnected lakes by land grabbers, he said.
Gradually, buildings were constructed by filling up the lake at several stretches in gross violation of High Court orders, he said.
Karail slum also came up on a stretch of the filled up lake, he said.
The demarcation of the Gulshan Lake by Rajuk on the basis of its existing alignment took place in gross violation of a High Court order of 2009 which asked for restoring the original the lake by evicting the grabbers, he said.
Rajuk’s demarcation only protected the powerful land grabbers, said Sharif.
A Rajuk official said that in 2003 the Supreme Court had directed Rajuk to restore the Gulshan-Baridhara Lake by recovering all the land on its fringes from the grabbers.
He said that in May 2006 the High Court in it order directed the authorities to stop the grabbers from filling up the Gulshan Lake.
And on April 2012 the HC directed the government to demolish in 15 days all the buildings erected on the encroached Gulshan Lake.
In accordance with the Environment Conservation Act of 1995, the government in 2001 declared that the lake was ecologically in critical state, he said.
Land acquisition issues and pending cases are lame excuses provided by Rajuk for its inaction, said Iqbal Habib, chief architect of Bhitti Sthapati Brinda, the lake project’s consultants.
And unless and until the Revised Development Project Proposal is approved it would not be possible for Rajuk to land recovery begun over a year back, said Iqbal Habib.
Rajuk takes more interest Purbachal New Township and Jhilmil Residential Project only to overlook the more important RDPP, he said.
It should take Rajuk more than 18 months to approve the RDPP, said Iqbal.
The lake restoration and beautification received no priority from Rajuk in last 15 years, he said.
Once the project for the development of Hatirjheel is complete it would be polluted by dirty waters from the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake, he said.
Rajuk’s executive engineer Nurul Islam who is also the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhaka Lake restoration and beautification project director, however, attributed the delay in work to land recovery and pending court cases.
Rajuk expects to complete the project by 2014, he said.
The office of the deputy commissioner allegedly has not hand over to Rajuk as yet, 10.75 acres of land it had recovered, he said.
He said 11 cases were pending with the court relating to the lake’s land stretching from the Manarat School at Gulshan Road 106 to Sahajadpur Connecting Road.
Rajuk has taken no initiative until now to recover 69.144 acres of land of the Gulshan-Banani-Mohakhali Lake of which 46.64 acres are under the possession of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited and the remaining 23. 58 acres are under illegal private possessions.
Rajuk has plans to construct a four-land two way road to connect the Gulshan Lake site with Hatirjheel, Nurul Islam said.
Starting at Baridhara Circle the road would end at Hatirjheel Police Plaza Concord, passing by Mariam Tower, Shahajadpur and Badda, he said.
He said that some of the link roads inside the project would be extended for better connectivity.
And sidewalk would be built along the lake after the recovery of the lake’s lands by dismantling illegal structures, he said.
Recreational facilities would also be developed at different spots, he said.
Driveways, footpaths, walkways and viewing decks are also planned to beautify the entire stretch, said Nurul Islam.
-With New Age input
