Don't fell trees for restaurants and other establishments at Suhrawardy Udyan

Felling trees for the construction of restaurants and other structures at Suhrawardy Udyan, the lungs of Dhaka city, will destroy the environment as much as it will harm the nature of the park.

Our history and traditions, our struggles for independence, have deep links with Suhrawardy Udyan. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at this ground on 7 March 1971 declared, “The struggle this time, is the struggle for our freedom! The struggle this time, is the struggle for our independence!" And the occupying Pakistan forces also surrendered at this park on 16 December of that year. A Shawdhinata Stambha (independence monument) has been built at Suhrawardy Udyan to highlight the memory of the struggle for independence. With a large lake next to it, the monument was built underground to protect the greenery of the park. The greenery and the lake altogether have protected the natural balance. So, new structures will not only destroy the beauty of Suhrawardy Udyan but also that of the Shawdhinata Stambha.

Our policymakers often have strange ideas. They have a penchant for construction at any open space. Constructions means getting a commission from the contact of the project, helping someone secure the work, etc. And this has given them the impetus to build various structures, including an underground car parking facility, a beautiful lake surrounded by walkways, an underpass, a mosque, a children park's with the latest rides, food courts and a power sub-station under the third phase of the project since 2018. Where there are the Shawdhinata Stambha and the Shikha Chironton (eternal flame), what justification is there to build new structures here? Building a concrete jungle surrounding the Shawdhinata Stambha does not necessarily uphold the memory of the liberation war.

There is a court order on the preservation of the historic sites including Suhrawardy Udyan. Development activities will have to be carried out there keeping the trees and plants. The order of the High Court can’t be ignored in the name of any development project. There is a large restaurant in Ramna Park next to Suhrawardy Udyan and most of the time it remains empty. So, we don’t think that there is any logic to build more restaurants at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Any city requires a green space of 20 per cent of its total area, but Old Dhaka has 5 per cent and the new part of Dhaka city has 12 per cent. We have destroyed many parks before. The Bangladesh China Friendship Center is evident that environmentalists are more far-sighted than the government’s policymakers. Environmentalists protested after the Awami League government took the initiative to build the center at Osmani Udyan during its 1996-2001 tenure. Finally, the government was forced to move it to Agargaon. If the government built the auditorium at Osmani Udayn by not listening to the environmentalists, what would happen then? The auditorium would have declared abandoned immediately.

So we will tell the people involved in the project at Suhrawardy Udyan, “Look before you leap.” Stop building unnecessary structures at Suhrawardy Udyan immediately. No restaurant can be built there on any excuse. A park located in Kolkata city in the Indian state of West Bengal has kept its nature untouched for a century. And we have brought Suhrawardy Udyan on the verge of destruction in less than half a century. What is the answer to such imprudence?