Mass demonstrations around the Dhanmodi-8 playground in Dhaka the other day reflect the mood of common people over an alleged move to grab it. This was an outburst of pent-up anger brewing so long in the minds of those who want to lead a healthy life in the capital of over ten million people.
And those who are throwing to the winds public interests in favour of a vested group dare to defy the High Court's directives. Time has come for the High Court, as the last resort for justice and fair play, to intervene again suo moto, upholding the public interest and free the playground from the clutches of the vested group to allow hundreds of youngsters to play football or cricket there. The nation certainly salutes the highest judiciary for its earlier timely action in many areas. The latest one has been the issuance of show cause by the High Court on as many as 14 top officials for flouting its orders for relocation of Hazaribagh tannery to Savar.
The other day, in a TV talk show, Mubasshar Hussein, who is the president of Commonwealth Association of Architects and Institute of Architects Bangladesh, was referring to his personal experience with his seven-year old granddaughter. One day, while he was escorting the kid to her school at Dhanmondi nearby, she was scared of seeing her own shadow because the child did never have any chance in her life to see shadows under a sun. She does not know yet what a playground is. Because of lack of any open space or playground, she is being grown day in and day out inside the apartment she lives in.
Mubasshar was only highlighting the pertinent need for playgrounds like the one in Dhanmondi.
Eric Hofferan, the great American moral and social philosopher, once said: "It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents."
It is not really understandable how a private professional sports club could start grabbing a public playground meant for use by members of the general public. The gate of Dhanmondi-8 playground now remains closed to the people all the time with round-the-clock security watch to ward off mostly children wanting to play in the ground. The Dhaka City Corporation has been ignoring two court orders to make the ground inaccessible to all.
Such incidents of grabbing open spaces and playgrounds in Dhaka and other cities and towns across the country with impunity are galore, as evident from reports in the media.
Can any sports club treat a playground in the capital as its own just in the name of promoting sports? No commercially-run sports club has any right to lay any claim over a public playground because the club itself is commercial in nature, not amateur and it makes money. If not, all vacant playgrounds, still left untouched by land grabbers, will one day see some groups or associations, donning the garb of sports clubs being seized by them. The DCC must see that all such playgrounds remain open for all children and adults living in Dhaka for their use.
If not, the authorities will also let loose a serious law and order situation as some universities, too, will, in the same fashion, grab open spaces to build their campuses commercially inside the capital saying they will be serving the cause of higher education !
Today even parks, known as lungs of people, are not spared in Bangladesh.
Greedy developers and land grabbers have made citizens hostage to their cunning ways. At a time when all other countries have made it sure to keep parks and playgrounds protected for citizens, the city fathers in Bangladesh simply ignore their basic responsibility.
Franklin D Roosevelt's famous quote is worth mentioning here:
"There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and the wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of the great human principle."
In fact, open public spaces play a very vital function in the social, economic and political lives of the urban population.
A public open space in a city, being different from that of a private one, is a place of mutual involvement beyond the immediate family circle. Green open spaces are essential for maintaining the environmental and ecological balance of a city as well as for serving recreational purposes for a wide range of people.
In addition, these places provide income-generating opportunities and offer a platform for cultural and political events. As such, open public spaces contribute significantly to how city inhabitants interact with each other and the city at large.
How could hundreds of thousands of people in the capital celebrate the Bengali New Year's Day as they did this year, too, at Botomool, had there not been the lush, green Ramna Park along with Suhrawardy Udyan nearby?
A father might use a park for his morning walk, while his son uses it as a dating spot. In Chandrima Udyan, on any given Friday, one can find a wide range of people of various age and wage groups: small children playing cricket as their mothers chat with each other about their daily lives, lovers trying to get a little privacy amid the madding crowd, a family of four from the outskirts of the city on a picnic, a woman selling flashy plastic flowers, or young boys yelling "cha or coffee" to convince the passer-by to buy a cup. All of these users use the space for their own individual ends without compromising its collective nature.
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