Construction of Akij Group's coronavirus hospital resumes in Tejgaon after a day of protests

The construction of Akij Group's specialised hospital to treat people infected with the novel coronavirus has resumed in Dhaka’s Tejgaon a day after protests by locals brought the initiative to a halt.

Work on the site resumed on Sunday, according to Tejgaon Police OC Md Ali Hossain.

"In the wake of the misunderstanding on Saturday, it was agreed that the project is part of a noble initiative and so the hospital will be built there on a temporary basis," Ali told bdnews24.com.

A police patrol has been deployed in the area, said Ali, adding the misunderstanding over the matter has been settled.

Neither the local representatives nor the police knew about Akij Group’s plan to set up a hospital in the area and so there was some misapprehension, Layla Anjum, a local resident, told bdnews24.com.

Three people, including security and construction workers, were injured as scores of locals vandalised the site after work began on Saturday.

The area is made up of a dense slum and building a hospital there would expose its residents to the risk of the coronavirus infection, Rahima Begum, a local resident, argued on Saturday. Accordingly, she demanded that the hospital be constructed elsewhere.

Earlier, Akij Group’s Managing Director Sheikh Bashir Uddin said the hospital would be built on the conglomerate’s empty plot next to the factory of motorcycle makers TVS in Tejgaon. It would provide free treatment to coronavirus patients, he added.