Wholesale market on hospital land

A wholesale market is being built on a piece of land in Ashulia, Dhaka, earmarked for a private medical college. Local residents say the construction of the market amounts to a permanent takeover of the land, making it unlikely that a medical college will ever be built there.

The land where the market is being built belonged to Kamar Para School and College. According to local sources and documents, in 2010 the school’s then management committee allocated 164 decimals of its land for a medical college. The proposed institution was to be named Uttara Bangabandhu Medical College and Hospital.

Local residents say the Awami League was politically dominant at the time and wanted to establish the medical college under Bangabandhu’s name. After the July mass uprising, Awami League leaders left the area, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and activists took control of everything. The wholesale market, they allege, is being built to serve the personal interests of those involved.

Kamar Para School and College was established in 1977 at the initiative of a club called Harirampur Cultural Association. The club is no longer active, although a few of its members are still alive. None of them agreed to speak officially.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one member said the area lacked a good healthcare facility, which was why the initiative had been taken to build a hospital and medical college on the school’s land. During the Awami League’s tenure, the proposed hospital was named after Bangabandhu to help secure approval. Now, the BNP has taken over the very land intended for the hospital, the member said.

The proposed hospital site lies on the right-hand side of the road towards Ashulia, after Kamar Para bus stand in the capital’s Turag police station area. On 4 October, a visit to Kamar Para found construction of a wholesale market for fresh produce in full swing. A large section of the boundary wall had been demolished to make way for the market. A banner on the wall read: “Wholesale Market for Fresh Produce — Shops Available for Allocation.”

Stalls for the market were being built with bamboo and corrugated tin sheets. Around 50 workers were on site. When asked who had commissioned the construction, the workers declined to comment.

At around 11:30 am on 8 October, Prothom Alo photojournalist Sazid Hossain went to photograph the vegetable wholesale market on the hospital land. As he approached, he saw five people beating a man. The attackers were heard telling the victim, “If you say anything more about this work, we’ll kill you.”

Sazid moved a short distance away and began taking photographs with a drone. At one point, several people supervising the market’s construction rushed towards him. He then left the area on his motorcycle.

After the Awami League fell from power on 5 August 2024, Zahirul Islam, joint convener of the BNP’s Turag unit, occupied the proposed hospital site and set up a truck stand.

Zahirul said he had not acted alone and that another group had also been involved. “I operated the stand for three months. During that time, I also paid money to Kamar Para School,” he said.

Following criticism, Zahirul was forced to remove the truck stand. The current wholesale market is being built by a company called Rafiq Engineering and Construction. Its director, Rafiqul Islam, told Prothom Alo that he was carrying out the work after renting the land. The monthly rent is Tk 1.6 million.

Several local sources said that although Rafiq’s company had formally rented the land, the arrangement was essentially a political settlement, with Zahirul Islam, joint convener of the BNP’s Turag unit, playing a role behind the scenes. 

Zahirul had also participated in the tender to rent the land but had not been awarded the contract. Given the limited scope for proceeding without reaching an understanding with him, the sources said, Rafiq’s company had negotiated an arrangement with Zahirul.

“It is a political undertaking, so we have to work with everyone,” Rafiqul said.

Zahirul, a Turag BNP leader, is a follower of Mostafa Zaman, member-secretary of the BNP’s Dhaka North City unit. The party recently dissolved that committee following an attack and vandalism at the Radda MCH-FP Centre, a maternal and child healthcare facility in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Mostafa Zaman is also the president of the governing body of Kamar Para School and College. Local sources said he controls the school and arranged for the land to be rented out. Those who rented it are his followers, creating opportunities for mutual benefit, they alleged.

When contacted, Mostafa Zaman said the college principal would speak on the matter. When asked about his own involvement, he ended the call.

Principal Khurshid Jahan was absent from the college for a long period after the July mass uprising. Sources said she was able to return on the condition that she agreed to the land being rented out. Asked why the land had been leased for a wholesale market rather than a hospital, she said the decision had been made in the school’s best interests.

After construction of the wholesale market began, local BNP leader Biplab Hossain posted a Facebook Live video on 26 September urging other party leaders and activists to join the work. He introduced himself as a joint convener of the BNP’s Turag unit.

In the video, Biplab said, “All the leaders of the Turag BNP unit should come here. We will all stay together and work together.”

The video showed at least 20 people, including local BNP leader Zahirul.

Ownership of the school’s land was transferred to the medical college in 2010. Mohammad Bayezid Sardar, assistant commissioner (land) at the Mirpur Revenue Circle, told Prothom Alo, “According to our records, the land is still registered in the name of Uttara Bangabandhu Medical College and Hospital. However, we cannot say who is currently occupying it.”

This raises questions about whether the school authorities have the right to rent out land registered in the name of a hospital. Several members of Harirampur Cultural Association, the organisation behind the school and the proposed medical college, said the entire process had been carried out illegally through the abuse of political power. They estimated the land to be worth at least Tk 1 billion and alleged that the site was effectively being taken over under the guise of establishing a wholesale market.

At noon on 4 October, Mukul Ahmed was walking past the grounds of the proposed Kamar Para Medical College. When asked about the development, he told Prothom Alo, “I knew a hospital would be built here. It would have benefited us. Now, I don’t think the hospital will ever be built.”