Dhaka’s North Jatrabarhi Park now a dumping ground 

Full of slush, mud and garbage, the ‘Uttar Jatrabarhi Park’ resembles a hybrid between a bazaar and a dumping ground. 

Faysal Atikbdnews24.com
Published : 1 July 2015, 07:56 AM
Updated : 1 July 2015, 07:56 AM

Some ruling party establishments have offices in the park and fruit vendors park their carts in abandon.

It has turned into an encroachers’ paradise with authorities turning a blind eye.

A signboard and two broken swings is all that reminds one that is a park meant for residents to relax. 

But in view of the what the park now looks like, the signboard marks the height of irony—"A park is a must for the residents".

Hawkers have cut their way through the iron gates of the park and set up stalls, littering the park with plastic.

Mosquitoes have taken over the park, fed by the accumulating wastes.

Influential locals occupied the park five years ago when construction workers of the Gulistan-Jatrabarhi Flyover left the place, after their temporary quarters were closed down, according to fruit trader Suruz Mia.

“This is not a park anymore. There was a playing ground, where children would play. The Eid prayers were held twice a year on this ground. Now that doesn’t even happen,” he told bdnews24.com.

The North Jatrabarhi Park has just two or three trees left standing, battered with mud and with stagnant rainwater here and there.  A tin shack of the local Awami League unit occupies the west end of the park. The sign on it reads ‘Awami League, affiliate organisations, head quarters, Jatrabarhi Park, Dhaka’. 

An office of the Awami League volunteers’ affiliate occupies the other end of the park along with some tea-stalls around it.

Even the office of the newly-elected local Councillor Md Abul Kalam is inside the park.

The Awami League-backed Kalam admits to 'severe encroachment' in the park.

“The park was fully occupied after the construction of the flyover was completed. Activists of different political parties, including mine (the Awami League) have occupied it. They will be evicted soon,” he told bdnews24.com.

The councillor said he sought funds from the city corporation to renovate the park.

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) says the establishments inside the park will be removed “soon”.

“There’s a plan to renovate all the parks in Dhaka South so that they can be used by the citizens. This will happen soon, ” DSCC Chief Executive Officer Ansar Ali Khan told bdnews24.com.

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