Playground being used for wrong purpose

A Bangla daily reported recently that Indira Road T and T Field, near Farmgate, is being used as a spot for fair ahead of Eid. There are 60 stalls at the fair. Children of the area are the clear losers from this arrangement. Earlier, hundreds of children used the playground to play games.

Playgrounds are increasingly becoming scarce in Dhaka. Only 15 to 16 per cent of the city dwellers get the opportunity to play. Use of open space for commercial purposes is indirectly affecting the playing habits of our children.

The law says such playgrounds cannot be rented out for arranging fairs. It seems money is more important to those who have rented out the playground to shops. Everyday Public Works Department (PWD) is getting Tk 11,000 as rent amount from the fair.

Locals fear that after the fair is over, the playground will not be in form for sports as the stalls have used many bricks on the soil.

I would like to urge the authorities concerned to stop the fair immediately and make the playground suitable for children. We need to make sure that our youngsters can play on regular basis. If they are busy with sports, they will have little time to spend on smart phones, harmful sites on the internet and indulge in bad activities.

Hosne Ara

Dhanmondi, Dhaka