It’s hard to get a glimpse of green in Old Dhaka. Shahid Matiur Shishu Park in Gulistan, popularly known as Gulistan Park, is one of the few places where people of the old city can come close to nature.
The park was named after Matiur Rahman, a student who was killed in police firing during the anti-Ayub Khan mass upsurge. The martyrdom of Matiur intensified the movement which ultimately ended the dictatorial rule of Pakistan President General Ayub Khan.
However, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has decided to temporarily relocate hawkers of Gulistan to the park, raising fears among historians and urban planners that this will rob the park of its beauty and historical significance.
The decision came after Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) launched a drive to remove illegal shops from the streets of Gulistan area on 27 October. During the eviction, the hawkers clashed repeatedly with some city corporation employees and a group of BCL men.
At a meeting on Saturday, DSCC decided to shift the hawkers temporarily to Gulistan Park.
Walkways adjacent to Golap Shah Mazar, National Book Centre, Bangabandhu Avenue, Khoddor Bazaar Shopping complex in Gulistan were still occupied by the hawkers on Sunday.
The scenery inside the park is not very pleasant either. On a visit to the park on Sunday, this correspondent saw it was crowded with homeless people and goats. Garbage floated on the pond.
Garbage was also piled up against the wall near the theatre house, Mohanagar Natya Mancha. DSCC officials said hawkers will be given a place to open their shops in this part of the park.
Dhaka University’s history department professor Muntasir Mamun told Prothom Alo on Sunday that the park’s natural beauty has been marred since since 1990. He urged DSCC to rescind their decision, saying that if the hawkers were shifted inside the park, it will no longer be a park at all.
Architect and urban planner Iqbal Habib said the hawkers cannot be shifted temporarily to the park as per the laws pertaining to open spaces and playgrounds in the metropolis.
He said Gulistan hawker eviction was a political problem that has to be resolved politically.
When asked about this question of legality, DSCC mayor Sayeed Khokon said the hawkers will be given a place to open their shops adjacent to Mohanagar Natya Mancha, not in Gulistan Park.
Mohanagar Natya Mancha and Gulistan Park are two different places as per the city survey, the mayor said.
He warned that no hawkers could occupy footpath illegally in the future.
The hawkers themselves are unwilling to shift to the park. DSCC’s listed hawker Amjad Ali and Mainuddin Mia said they will not leave the walkways until permanent rehabilitation of any sort is arranged. They said customers will not enter the park to shop.
Hawker MujiburRahman, Alauddin and Mofizul Islam said that local politicians and law enforcing agency members discouraged them from opening their shops inside the park because if that happens, they could not collect extortion money from them.
Javed Jahan, resident of the city’s Siddik Bazar area and a green activist, said, “This park’s beauty has already been marred by the Natya Mancha. It needs renovation instead of being crowded by hawkers.”
Source: Prothom-Alo
