Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, who heads the committee, at a meeting on March 15 asked the DCC authorities to either develop a park or give the land back to Rajuk.

"We asked DCC to return the parkland to Rajuk (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) for development, as it handed over the parkland to DCC just for maintenance," Public Works Secretary Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury said.

City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told Star City last December that they would build a community centre there. He claimed that the local MP and ward commissioner were also interested to establish a community centre.

However, the DCC has not started work to develop a park at the site.

Contacted on March 27, DCC Chief Executive Officer M Saifuddin Ahmed said, "How do you know that we are not developing the park?"

"Developing a park is not a job to be done overnight," Ahmed said. "We will do the job and start working within a few days," he added.

The members of Gulshan Society, who had been very vocal for establishing the park, are now keeping mum on the issue. “We'll face reprisals if we speak out," said a top office bearer of the society requesting anonymity. "We don't want to go into any trouble."

"One thing is understandable that there is a very powerful lobby active to turn the parkland into a commercial site," said a member of the society expressing his apprehension that the park would be finally grabbed by powerful quarters.

In the 1962 layout plan for the Gulshan Model Town drawn by the erstwhile DIT, the parkland is clearly earmarked for a green park. Rajuk in 1982 handed over the 3.99 acres of land to DCC to maintain it as a park.

The land then remained occupied by DCC's 416 sweepers' families for about 25 years. The parkland was freed from illegal occupation around six months back.

The DCC later extended the parkland up to 6.5 acres by filling up a portion of adjoining Gulshan Lake, according to Rajuk Chief Engineer Emdadul Islam.

The DCC also raised a six-foot high solid wall with ceramic bricks around the parkland making its interior invisible though the DCC CEO had told Star City on November 2 that they would construct a three feet high wall.

The principal secretary to the PM in a letter to DCC on October 26 last year said the PM had given a clear direction to set up a green park at the site immediately. But the DCC ignored the repeated directives from the PMO.

Rajuk also formally asked the DCC in November last year to return the park land to it in the wake of an influential private developer's alleged move, backed up by a powerful quarter, to grab the parkland for commercial use.

"The land is a very valuable asset because of its location and it will be used accordingly in consultation with the Prime Minister's Office," said the DCC CEO on October 12.

Following a public interest litigation filed by Gulshan Society, a High Court bench on December 15 last year issued a rule on the DCC and its CEO to explain why they should not be directed to refrain from using the Gulshan South parkland for any purposes other than developing and maintaining a green park.

The court also imposed a status quo on the parkland.