Dhanmondi playground open

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) on Thursday opened the Dhanmondi playground to all.

The corporation put up notices on the main gate and the boundary wall of the playground that read ‘Dhanmondi playground opened to all’.

Chief executive officer Mohammad Ansar Ali Khan of DSCC said they opened the playground to all following the High Court directives and to show respects to the demands and expectations of the people.

Environmentalists and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club had been at loggerheads over the Dhanmondi playground.

As the club started constructing structures in the field, the environmentalists waged a movement against it saying the move would restrict people’s access to the playground.

Finally, the matter went to the when Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club filed a case against four environmentalists after some green activists staged demonstrations protesting ‘illegal occupation’ of the playground by the club on 18 April.

The four accused are former Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) president Mobassher Hossain, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) joint secretary Iqbal Habib, architect Salma A Shafi and Bangladesh Women’s Sports Association general secretary Kamrunnahar Dana.

The four green activists on Tuesday secured bail from a Dhaka court in the case.

In another development, a writ petition was filed with the High Court on Tuesday seeking its directives to stop the construction of illegal structures in Dhanmondi playground and open it to all.

Six green activists, including Mobassher Hossain and Iqbal Habib, filed the writ.

The High Court on 15 March 2011 directed the authorities concerned to open the Dhanmondi playground to all removing all illegal structures within 15 days.