Sangsad area richer by four acres
Social Welfare Ministry hands over four acres of land
Morshed Ali Khan
The Sangsad Bhaban area in the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar is now richer by 4.6 acres of land. The Ministry of Social Welfare handed back the land, by Mirpur Road near Asad Gate, to the Sangsad area by removing three large structures that housed an institute for the deaf and dumb since 1958. The hand-over took place in January this year and the demolition work of the old structures is now underway. Officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Sangsad Bhaban said that the area would be included in the actual landscape of the 217-acre national parliament complex. They said that the entire area would be elevated by landfill and leveled with the southern open space in front of the parliament building. "So far we do not know what the government might do with the large plot that we have recovered," said a PWD engineer requesting not to be named. Although local people said that the government is planning to build 'the largest mosque in the world' on the site, PWD officials at Sangsad Bhaban office denied having any such scheme 'at the moment'. A resident of Lalmatia, who regularly walks around the Sangsad area said that he had heard from the officials that they would enact a '20 feet high wall' along Mirpur Road. The PWD is the official custodian of the Sangsad Bhaban area. Its officials said that in exchange for the land at the parliament complex, they had given the social welfare ministry a chunk of land in the Agargaon area for reconstruction of the institute for deaf and dumb. Sources in the PWD said that the government had once planned to build the Institute of Parliamentary Studies (IPS) at the same site. They said that due to a crisis of funds, the project could not be launched. "The IPS complex is not included in the original Master Plan done by Louis H Kahn," said the official requesting anonymity. "Our initial job is to develop the 4.6 acres and set it up with the remaining landscape of the Sangsad Bhaban area," he said. Town Planners and architects said that any unplanned plantation of trees could not only spoil the landscape but also provide shelter for crime and unsociable activities. "On the northern side of the same plot, authorities have planted a dense thicket of trees. The area is now notorious for drug-use and prostitution," said a member of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB). After they level the area up, they should consult landscape experts and keep the area open and visible from outside so that people traveling on Mirpur Road can have a look at the open space from outside, added the architect.
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