Published : 06 Nov 2026, 01:14 AM
Updated : 06 Nov 2026, 01:13 AM
For nine years, Dhaka’s refuge remained behind closed gates. Osmani Udyan reopened with new paths, but visitors have found locked facilities, no proper toilets, smoking, suspected drug use and a Tk 10 entry fee.
Officials promise services soon and say the fee keeps vagrants and drug users out. Planners say concrete has damaged the garden and charging for green space violates citizens’ rights.
A 2-Year Project, 9 Years Later
The 9.31-hectare garden in Gulistan, named after Liberation War commander Gen Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani, lies between Nagar Bhaban and the Secretariat.
The Awami League government approved a Tk 1.08 billion renovation in 2017. Then mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon inaugurated work in January 2018, calling it “Goshwa Nibaroni Park”; completion was scheduled for December 2020.
The first contractor, The Builders Engineers, lost its work order after allegations; PF Corporation took over in 2023. Another Tk 390 million under the interim administration funded a July memorial and two gates, built by National Development Engineers (NDE).
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurated the park on Oct 19; it opened the next day. It operates in two shifts, charging Tk 10. Paths have lights, CCTV cameras and bins.
Facilities Still Closed
Spaces for 12 food courts, a museum, library, games room, gym, health centre, car park and playground remain closed.
An Ansar member known only as Rahad told bdnews24.com that toilets were not ready either. Staff use a dirty makeshift toilet, he said, inconveniencing women.
Visitor Khurshed Alam said he could not find the advertised playground. Worker Rony said a leaseholder would equip it.
DSCC Administrator Md Abdus Salam said the gym, playground and canteen were “in process” and would be tendered.
Chief Executive Officer Md Khaybar Rahman said toilets had opened for the inauguration but not the public; negotiations with companies were under way, with leasing or temporary management being considered.
Smoking, Rubbish and Drug Use
People smoke inside despite guards. “Dhaka is already a poisonous place. I thought I could breathe freely here, but people are smoking openly,” said Imtiaz Raihan, visiting with his child. He urged authorities to intervene.
Drug use was seen beneath the planned food court-library building and in the dry lake. Plastic, cigarette packets and snack wrappers floated near NDE’s temporary office, despite bins nearby.
NDE chief Shahin Alam blamed outsiders for rubbish; a cleaner said contractors dumped it morning and evening. Salam promised action, while Khaybar said he would arrange cleaning and investigate drug use.
Outside, litter, hawkers and vagrants trouble visitors. Hawker Monowar Khan, trading there for more than a decade, now spreads a quilt to avoid crackdowns. Visitor Kaberi said vagrants’ stares and incoherent remarks made her reluctant to bring her child.
Khaybar said vagrants fell under the social welfare ministry; DSCC had removed them and written to it.
Tickets, and a Disputed Tally
The Police Headquarters gate remains shut. Ticket seller Mohammad Sohel said the two open gates sold 2,500 to 3,000 tickets, generating Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000.
DSCC records showed only Tk 3,000 to Tk 4,000 -- 300 to 400 tickets. Khaybar said his figures covered 200 to 300 visitors and promised to investigate.
'Neither a Garden nor a Park'
Urban planner Adil Muhammad Khan said renovation had destroyed the garden’s character.
“It’s neither an amusement park nor a garden; it has become a mishmash,” he said. Its facilities and environment, he added, offered little appeal to visitors or children.
Calling the fee “against citizens’ rights” and “a terrible injustice”, he said taxpayers should not pay again for green space.
The DSCC Act 2009 makes greening a municipal duty; concrete has raised maintenance costs and left the corporation trapped by a flawed design.
Officials declined to comment on lost greenery. Salam said, “Now we have to work with what is there. If we go backwards, we will get nothing.”
Adil dismissed fears that free entry would invite drug users and vagrants. CCTV, staff, rules and “passive policing” were the authorities’ responsibility. “If the state cannot remove drug users from a park, there is no need for a government to exist.”
He urged DSCC to open facilities and abolish the fee: “This is a space for our citizens’ rights. There is no scope to put a price on it.”
