Parks in the city
Like everything else in Dhaka, the quality of life in the city has deteriorated fast due to many reasons. Looking around us, one will notice that Dhaka doesn't have sufficient number of parks where the next generation and the elderly people can go and have some fun and fresh air. I also think there is no data available in Bangladesh about the ratio of parks to population in the cities. But any sensible person can guess that we certainly do not have sufficient open spaces for the residents. Though the parks are considered the lungs of a city. This is especially true about a city like Dhaka which nests over 15 million inhabitants.
The sight of greenery we get in Dhaka is Ramna Park, Suhrawardy Udyan, Zia/ Chandrima Udyan and the Dhanmondi Lake side park. But all these parks/open spaces of the city have their own problems. Suhrawardy Udyan is inaccessible due to construction work. Ramna Park is too old and small and talking of Zia Udyan, it simply dose not have enough space to accommodate the residents of one neighbourhood. Apart from the size and the maintenance the other problem is people cannot go there when they like to. All the parks are uncared for; squatters have made it their abode by building shanties. Drug addicts and muggers frequent the parks. Similar condition prevails at the National Botanical Gardens. The community parks in the old city have been spoiled in a similar fashion by intruders and anti-social elements.
The city fathers should come forward and save the parks.
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