Editorial
Port city lost behind hoardings
Will CCC go for action?
It is amazing how commercial interests are ruining aesthetics nearly everywhere, especially in the urban regions of the country. Take the instance of the port city of Chittagong, verily a significant part of Bangladesh's history. If you were to be a traveller in this city nowadays, you would see it buried under an avalanche of billboards. And most of these are unauthorised ones, with the city authorities taking little or no notice of the activities of the firms behind these billboards. We understand that there is a policy in place on the installation of billboards, one that was formulated as recently as April last year.
Now, it is a happy thing having regulations and policies in place as long as they are followed through. In Chittagong, with buildings, religious and historical spots and parks now hidden by a ubiquity of billboards advertising a disturbing array of products, one understands clearly that the policy on billboards has not gone into implementation. There is thus here one more instance of the authorities --- and we refer to the country as a whole --- being unable or unwilling to act on the rules they themselves devise. The rules framed by the Chittagong city authorities make it clear that hoardings and billboards will not cover or conceal buildings of aesthetic value, historical constructions, murals, sculptures and government offices. Moreover, it is illegal to have billboards on pavements. We might add that hoardings also happen to cover the front of homes in a number of areas in the port city.
All of this gives Chittagong a helpless, untidy look. Such wanton commercial moves not only interfere with the free movement of citizens but also send out a wrong message to tourists both local and foreign. When the charm of the Karnaphuli river gets lost in a forest of illegal hoardings, one might raise the question of what the tourism authorities plan to do about rectifying the situation.
Will the Chittagong city corporation get into action and clean up the mess? And will those behind these illegal hoardings be taken to task under the law?
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments