People from various strata have protested for months against the Tejgaon鈥揚lassey Crossing segment of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway that destroys Panthakunja and part of Hatirjheel, but the government remains resolute about the project.
The authorities have so far erected 41 columns of the segment, by dirt-filling part of Hatirjheel and felling all the trees on the 4.1 acres acquired from six acres of the park, once a beautiful urban wildlife habitat beside a commercial district of the city that provided residents with some fresh air.
The park has been closed to the public for seven years. The renovation, which began in 2018, was to end in June 2019, but the work stalled in mid-October 2018 over a dispute between the south city authorities and the Bangladesh Bridge Authority over pillars and a station planned inside the park.
Several Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement activists have sat in at the place round-the-clock since December 14, 2024 to save the park, the lake and the trees still at risk of being felled, halting the construction since.
The Bridges Division secretary Mohammad Abdur Rouf on March 19 said that the duration for the construction of the segment had been extended until December 2026.
鈥榃e have already invested a huge amount of money in the project. We respect the concerns of the protesters. We are committed to keeping the damage to a minimum,鈥� he said.
This is a public-private partnership scheme. The parties will have to pay damages if the project is cancelled, he added.
The 46.73-kilometre expressway, from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the Dhaka鈥揅hattogram Highway at Jatrabari, was taken up in 2011 to ease traffic in the capital.
But the protesters, who include green campaigners and urban planners, argue that the metropolitan city has already been short on open spaces. Residents keep suffering from air pollution. Building this segment will only worsen the situation.
The road transport and bridges adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan, the environment adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan and the industries adviser Adilur Rahman Khan met the protesters in the park on December 23, 2024 and wanted to speak to them at year鈥檚 end.
鈥楤ut, they didn鈥檛. We tried to contact them. They didn鈥檛 reply. There should be a dialogue. They cannot avoid it. About 10,000 people have expressed their solidarity with us in three months,鈥� said Amirul Rajiv, the convener of the Tree Protection Movement.
Ten of the protesters have stayed inside the park, leaving behind their normal life, he said. They are now falling ill because of excessive dust, mosquito bites and rat infestation.
The Institute of Planners president Adil Mohammad Khan has said that the segment was not part of the original plan. This is a later addition, without any feasibility study, to make the project financially viable.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 want the entire project cancelled. Just this segment, to keep the city liveable. The authorities have even ignored objections of the Dhaka South City Corporation and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha,鈥� he said.
鈥榃e have never expected that we鈥檇 have to hold so long a protest against the project that is against people and against the environment in the interim government鈥檚 tenure.鈥�
Adil, a professor urban and regional planning in Jahangirnagar University, has said that the segment would compound traffic congestion on major roads going by the University of Dhaka, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Nilkhet and Plassey.
The protesters have criticised the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan vice-president Iqbal Habib鈥檚 involvement in the project and his role in designing the segment that destroys the lake, the park and their surroundings.
Green campaigner Iqbal Habib, however, on March 20 avoided making comments. He, earlier, brushed aside his involvement in the project. 鈥業 was involved in the impact management design that would mitigate the damage to Hatirjheel.鈥�
The Dhaka South City Corporation has finished renovating the remaining portion of the park. 鈥業t will be opened to the public in May,鈥� said the project director Md Khairul Baker, also a superintending engineer of the corporation.
Divisional forest officer Mahmuda Rokhsena Sultana earlier said that they had allowed the Bridge Authority on October 10, 2024 to fell 258 trees inside the park. The project was a priority of the Awami League government.
