The Treasures We are Losing

photo: Palash Khan

Once there was a canal starting from Buriganga and meandering on to Suvadda of Keraniganj. I have fond memories of travelling the canal to go to Suvadda and other places. The water of the canal was limpid as was the water of Buriganga. When I remember the trees arching over the canal while I lazed on the boat with my friends my heart longs to travel through time.

When I saw pictures of the present deplorable state of the Suvadda canal filled with waste from garment factories I realised how little respect this canal received from unscrupulous developers and entrepreneurs. The extent to which The Buriganga has been barbarized speaks of a scornful attitude. The water is ghoulishly black with an oily veneer extending up to a long distance. Conduits pour sludge into the river. All sorts of debris float close to the bank and anchor points. It is an abomination that saddens the heart. Kamrangir char has become a ghetto. And environment sustains us!

Turag, an offshoot of Buriganga is under threat. The channel is shrinking in spite of flood plain mark pillars. Sand laden trucks stray far beyond the pillar marks developing and grabbing land. Part of the area marked for Purbachal consisted of wooded high land. Now it is to be seen to believe how a vast expanse of land has become a desolate place. Many frustrated people bitterly say that for Purbachal to buzz with habitation will take an unusually long time.

Water bodies in and around Dhaka suffered the most during the last few decades. The area north of Rampura bridge was a vast expanse of low lying water bodies where folks used to raise paddy wherever the water level afforded it. Woefully the area is now a habitation named Badda, Merul, Nodda, Abdullahnagar and the consecrated residential area of Basundhara. It happened due to the conniving apathy of the apex body of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Authority.

On the south-eastern side of Dhaka on the two sides of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway the trend has been similar. Unscrupulous settlers have built houses developing an area named Dhonia of the agricultural land on the southern side of DND Canal-an off-limit for habitation. The place does not have any drainage system, so when it pours the whole area gets waterlogged with marooned people. Its neighbouring areas Dholpur was also built with little regard for environment and compliance of any kind.

In Chittagong city, the hills and the Chaktai canal are safeguards against water logging. Rampant hill cutting, makeshift unauthorized settlements and using the Chaktai canal as a dumping ground has made the canal narrower and clogged. So when it rains heavily water logging paralyses civic life.

Heritage is the mark of excellence of a human habitation in preserving its historical and cultural progression. Therefore preservation of heritage is important for good cities. Our nearest neighbour Kolkata can be an example. The success of Kolkata in preserving its heritage is commendable. Indeed the British association has contributed much to its heritage. However, it cannot be a reason for being negligent about Dhaka's heritage.

It is reported that it is very difficult to dismantle British era buildings in Kolkata because proper permission for it is much circumspect about it judging the matter from the standpoint of heritage. By that consideration, Dhaka frankly is lax!

Photo: Palash Khan

Wari is the first planned residential area of Dhaka. It is among the high lands of Dhaka above the flood level. T.J. Rankin the then Magistrate of Dacca set up the area in 1880. It was mostly divided into one bigha plots with 99 years lease. In the sprawling expanse of the plots swathed in lush greenery two storied stately mansions were the mark of distinction. There were single storied cottages too.

The whole area is divided into blocks of settlements created by a cross-section of a number north-south and east-west reasonably wide streets. - Folder Street, Rankin Street, Chandi Charan Bose Street, Hare Street and Nawab Street are the east-west streets and the north-south streets are Rankin Street, Larmini Street and Wyer Street.

One of the last stately mansion on Nawab Street perished two years back. One Manik Ghosh's big mansion with wooden stairs with large compound dotted with tombstone marks of ancestors' remains is now the property of a dour looking nouveau rich of questionable record. He has painted the building with a darker shade.
Where Prof. Amartya Sen's family used to live, the new building fortunately has only two levels. Dr. Nandi's house has been squeezed into a corridor from two sides. I wonder what has happened to the large house with big compound where Sudhangsu Sekhar Haldar used to live. In its place there is a 12-storied ungainly high rise apartment complex.

Now in Wari there is a wholesale scramble for high rise apartment complexes in place of stately mansions. Everywhere 10 to 12-storied buildings have gone up with least regard for building codes. There is a 12-storied two unit apartment complex lengthening the shadows on Baldah Garden. Open garbage bins are in many places. Raw sewage is flowing down the drain in Nawab Street. Suddenly a kitchen market has gone up on the slice of space beside the drain behind Baldah Garden. The buyers are a rare sight. Cavernous godowns have made matters worse. The manhole covers cave in unable to take the load of a juggernaut of a heavy truck. This is the fate of heritage in Wari. It has become a place for community housing!

The Armanitola Maidan was once ringed by a number of well-built houses with well-placed people living there. Bhawal Mahraja's Manager - the father of notable singer Utpala Sen used to live in Bandhab Kutir in the corner opposite what was once Zamindar Ananda Roy's house. I hope Anandamoyee Girls School is still there. They are all gone!

Armanitola Maidan is a dusty bowl. Goods laden trucks clog the entire area. I fondly remember of Umesh Dutta Road of Bakshi Bazar. It is named after an outstanding student of Hindu College which later became Presidency College. Respectable people used to live there. Bakshi Bazar Cricket Club or BBC was a premier sports association.

I lament the bedraggled condition of the palatial mansion of what was known as L Mullick's house in Luxmi Bazar.
In the current issue of his autobiographical notes eminent author Ramapada Chowdhury diffidently spoke of the benefits of a cosmopolitan society for a city in terms of promoting sense of duty. Heritage cannot survive without a sense of duty.