Nagar Reporter: Those who are responsible for protecting the Biplab Udyan (Chittagong City Corporation), which is built on an area of about two acres located in Sholashahar of the city, have stepped up to complete this green open park. The Chittagong City Corporation is not paying any attention to the objections, agitations, and requests of anyone, including the environmental organizations of Chittagong, conscious civil society, and the planned Chittagong Forum. Bangladesh Environment Law Society (BELA) has also issued legal notices to 11 related organizations, including City Corporation, to not build any kind of commercial structure in this Biplab Udyan. But the situation remains the same. Chittagong Forum, an organization designed to make Chittagong an environmentally friendly and planned city, has recently written to the Chittagong City Corporation demanding the closure of Biplab Udyan.
The letter signed by architect Jerina Hossain, editor of the planned Chittagong Forum, says that since 1961, special concern has been expressed about the lack of parks, playgrounds, and open spaces in the city. The above range is not a luxury for any city but an essential for urban living. For a healthy life in the city, green spaces like parks, playgrounds, hills, water bodies, etc. are necessary. It is not unknown to anyone that all types of open spaces, including reservoirs, play a very effective role in temperature control, air pollution, and urban flood prevention.
In the letter given by the forum, it is also said that in all the plans and master plans made for Chittagong city since 1961 till date, the extension of open space and its proper conservation have been given. But the reality is that open green land is being destroyed day by day in the name of development in the city, due to which the temperature of the city is increasing at an alarming rate and other environmental hazards are increasing. All these nature-destroying activities are actually against sustainable development. Any development plan adopted by the City Corporation should be compatible with the Chittagong Master Plan. Finally, for the sake of temperature control and the environmental health of Chittagong metropolis, it is demanded to stop all infrastructure-based development works in Biplab Udyan (incompatible with the use of the said park) and bring back the natural green park.
Architect Shahinul Islam, the former chief city planner of the Chittagong Development Authority, told the media on Wednesday that in order to build a healthy and planned city, at least 10 to 12 percent of the city should be declared open and protected. This recommendation is also included in the master plan of Chittagong City, prepared in 1995 and approved by the government in 1999. But it is really sad and reprehensible that an organization serving the citizens, like Chittagong City Corporation, has started activities regarding Biplab Udyan.
Bangladesh Environmental Law Association Bela and Chittagong History and Culture Research Center held a human chain and protest rally on November 25 last year to demand a stop to the construction of new structures at Biplab Udyan in Chittagong. In the human chain and rally organized at Biplab Udyan Square, the speakers said that it is completely illegal to build commercial infrastructure in the open space by destroying the traditional culture of the country. The people put the public representative or the mayor of the city corporation in the chair, not to build the parks or open spaces of Chittagong, but to protect them.
Note that the current mayor is Before Rezaul Karim was elected, Khorshed Alam Sujan, while serving as the administrator of the City Corporation, had stopped the construction and eviction of these illegal structures. The then mayor, AJM Nashir Uddin, started the construction of commercial establishments in Biplab Udyan during his tenure as mayor. This construction was stopped during the administration of Chasik Khorshed Alam Sujan. But the current mayor. During Rezaul Karim Chowdhury’s time, it was done again. Conscious citizens, including the environmentalist organizations of Chittagong, have opposed the construction of such commercial establishments in the park, destroying the natural environment.
Incidentally, in the year 1979, this two-acre garden filled with trees was built at railway gate number two of Nasirabad city. It is known that, according to the building regulations, the park cannot have more than 5 percent concrete infrastructure. And internationally, not even 2 percent approve. But at least 55 percent of the concrete infrastructure of Biplab Udyan is at gate number two of Chittagong City. A survey conducted by a teacher and a student at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology revealed the state of the garden. Now it is feared that there will be nothing like open space and a green environment in the park if it is established again.
