Grabbers eye Jalalabad Park

Sylhet unit of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) organised the programmes, held in front of the park.

BELA on November 2 last year served a legal notice on Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Mayor and some others, holding them responsible for allowing the land grabbing. But the legal notice was not even relied, BELA sources said yesterday.

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Speakers at the rally include former chairman of Sylhet Pourashava AFM Kamal, its former vice-chairman Prof Mohammad Shafique, former MPA Muhammad Ashraf Ali, former secretary of Sylhet District Bar Association EU Shahidul Islam.

They called upon the government to take immediate steps to save the park. Sources said some powerful groups are preparing to build a commercial complex and a multi-storied shopping mall there, ignoring protests by people.

Some ward commissioners belonging to ruling BNP and opposition Awami League are involved in the move to grab the parkland, the sources claimed.

Jalalabad Park, located near Keane Bridge, was the lone venue in the city for holding public meeting during movement against British rule.

The sources claimed that ward commissioners at a meeting on March 24 decided to construct a market on the 2.5 acre of land of the park.

The grabbers have managed a 'verbal approval' from the SCC Mayor and obtained permission for lease of the lands from LGRD ministry, in which an influential leader of Sylhet City BNP played a vital role, they claimed.

They had taken their first initiative in May last year to grab the land and build a market there but kept the process suspended following protests by different organisations including BELA.

"Now, things are moving fast but secretly" a source in BELA told this correspondent yesterday.

When contacted, Sylhet city BNP President Ariful Haque Chowdhury declined to make any comment, but claimed that the Mayor as well as some ward commissioners were in favour of construction of the shopping mall at the park. "What can I do alone", he said.

However, when asked, SCC Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran expressed innocence about the land grabbing move.

Jalalabad Park was once an attractive place for recreation. It started losing its glory with rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of the area. Located at the heart of the city, part of it was leased temporarily to a private nursery years ago.