Public park space in Dhaka is almost non existent. Almost hidden within this concrete slum of 12 million people, few spots here and there still gives the Dhakaites much needed greenery and some fresh air to walk in the early morning. If you happen to be in Parliament building ground, or Suhrawardi Udyan (Ramna Green) before sunrise, you will see a carnival there. Muffler clad elderly man gossiping in gangs, Saree-salwar-kameez wearing middle aged women walking briskly, young men running and doing physical exercise and even young kids joined the grand festivities with their moms. Suhrawardi Udyan and Parliament building areas are one of the rare open space Dhakaites now have. If you happen to stop by crescent lake, or the road side shops along Ashulia-Uttara road, the jam-packed, inch to inch crowd, will give you an idea of the dire need some park space in Dhaka.
While the governments should consider this park space shortage as an issue of priority and do everything possible to make more greenery available to the public, this government has done exactly the opposite.
The took away almost half of Ramna Green (25 acre of 62 acres) and silently gave it to a club of 1500 elites of Dhaka, the Dhaka Club. The hitherto public park space will be the golf course for the 1500 elites of Dhaka. And this broad daylight robbery of public land occurred almost 5 months ago in June 2007.
Advisor in charge of housing and Public works Barrister Moinul Hossain did make this decision. It is not clear on what right did he give away such a priceless piece of public property to his Dhaka club elite friends. It is also not known whether any kind of public hearing or at least consultation with the council of advisors did take place prior to this decision.
It is worthy a reminder that several ministers of previous government have been served with extended jail sentences for unlawfully allocating government property to their favored organizations. Ex communication minister Barrister Nazmul Huda has been charged for allocating a small piece of barren railway land (Not a park or greenery) to a Human rights org led by her wife. Similarly politicians like Mirza Abbas , MAH Selim , Tariqul Islam , Shahjahan Siraj and many others have been charged and given different terms of jail sentence for alleged misuse of government land.
The readers also should be reminded that this big chunk of available Dhaka greenery is being grabbed by an elite recreation club with only 1500 members. Entrance to this exceedingly elite cult is prohibitively difficult and expensive. A clear direction is not available to the public regarding its membership and it is a common saying that you only can enter this clan if you can buy someone’s membership, which is nearly impossible and would cost you a fortune.
One may also question the feasibility of restricting such a prime park space in central Dhaka for golf, which is played by an extremely limited number of people in Bangladesh. I don’t know how much it will cost to book your Tee time at the proposed Ramna Dhaka club golf course; I can give you a comparable pricing of Kurmitola golf range.
Local Bangladeshi
Entrance fee: TK. 7,00,000/-
( However if you happen to be a member of Bangladesh Armed Forces, you got to pay only Tk. 6,000/- instead of Tk. 7,00,000/-)
Expatriates
Entrance fee: US $10,000 (for permanent membership)
Here are some pictures of Kurmitola golf club (Courtesy KGC Website)
Click on the pictures for a beautiful better resolution.
Unfortunately 12 million minus 1500 people living in Dhaka will NOT have access to this breathtaking beauty.
November 6, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Geeti ara safia chowdhury is a member of dhaka club. She was also the president of Dhaka club.
November 8, 2007 at 1:37 pm
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=10885
November 8, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Dhaka Shohor
What bengal thinks today, the rest of India….
November 8, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Heheh… Exactly what I was thinking!
You never know. Daily Star people frequent blogs. Maybe someone picked up on the fact that reporting on this would not get them reminders.
Way to lead the pack Rumi bhai!
November 12, 2007 at 4:21 am
Asif,
Yeah the Bangladeshi Journos read the blogs, steal the ideas and at best they can produce a footnote from the internet. They need to develop the ethics of crediting source, I mean that won’t necessarily question their ability.
November 17, 2007 at 1:52 pm
[...] Background History: Nawab Abdul Ghani acquired land in Shahbagh and Paribagh, took lease of race course from the British to patronize horse racing which became very popular. A club was built (Gymkhana club) on the north edge which was opened in 1911 by Lord Lanslott. Today Dhaka Club is the oldest recreation organisation and the largest of elite clubs in Dhaka, According to Prof Muntasir Mamoon of History Department at Dhaka University, the British rulers took over a large portion of Nawab’s estate in Ramna in 1941. They leased out 524 bighas of land to Dhaka Club from it. Of those,190 bighas were used for a race course while 19 bighas for a golf course. After independence, Bangladesh government opened the area to public entrusting the public works ministry with its maintenance.To read the developments in the Daily Star: Govt decision to lease out 25acre greenery sparks uproar: Nov 8,2007Golfers or land grabbers? Nov 9, 2007Withdraw decision,demand experts,environmentalists: Nov 10, 2007 Dhaka Clubs’ Statement Daily Stat Nov 12 2007 Land for the ‘lords’ and peril for the people Nov 13, 2007 Govt urged not to hand park to Dhaka Club: Nov 14, 2007Ground Realities: Nov 14, 2007 Duta urges govt not to allow golfing: Nov 15, 2007 To read the news in Bengali: Prothom Alo, Nov 5 2007 Reactions of Dhakaites & the enviromentalists: Rumi Ahmed’s wordpress Blog [...]
November 28, 2007 at 8:08 am
In this black deal of transfering the land to Dhaka Club, the whole pack of the present administration is involved. Geetiara is closely related to Fakhruddin Ahmed and one can understand the linkage. Call them honest administrators?
March 28, 2008 at 5:42 pm
They area all a bunch of crooks. Even Dr. Ahmed cannot be trusted. This move is a blatant act of corruption. The audacity of Dhaka Club to suggest anyone can access the golf course by paying a fee! As if most of our countrymen (and women) will be able to afford this monstrosity. I hope these advisers are brought up on charges when the next administration comes into office.