A tale of two parks

Sitting on her bubblegum pink bicycle, a little girl, also dressed in pink, was playing with its handles. An older man, possibly her grandfather, was sitting at a distance and watching over her. 

A soft breeze blew through her pink ribbons as she tried to look up at a tree and spot the magpie, or doyel, that was cooing. 

It was a spring midday at the capital's Gulshan Lake Park. When I entered it, it was time for the little girl to leave. "We live nearby, just the next alley", said the grandfather. They visit the park often. 

They left and I kept walking through the paved walkway. What caught my eyes was there was not a single fallen leaf anywhere, and not a speck of dirt on the lake water. The grass was mowed, flower beds well-watered, and the shaded benches cleaned. 

I met two young Chinese joggers who live nearby. One tall caucasian man was recording the magpie song, while two other expatriate women were walking and chatting.  

There is a hanging bridge over the lake. I was surprised to see the colourful petunias adorning its railings. I peeked to see the flower pots; the soil was damp from regular watering. 

As I stood on the bridge, I finally found the magpie on a mohua tree. How did I know the name of the tree? The horticulture centre adjacent to the park took the initiative to name every one of them in the park. Mohua, mango, neem, wood apple, plum, coconut, oleander, jackfruit- the park was filled with trees.    

I saw two gardeners watering the marigold flowers on the banks of a pond. "We water the plants every other day. But if it's too dry, they need daily watering", one of them said. 

The park has a washroom. Three staff regularly cleans it. There is also a sample collection booth set by icddr,b. 

Inside there is only one restaurant. The security is also quite tight as I found two uniformed police officers at the entrance. 

From here, I went to another lake park on the other side of the capital - the one in Dhanmondi. 

Much bigger than the Gulshan Lake Park, the open area in Dhanmondi lakeside covers approximately 31 acres and the water body is about 54.6 acres. Even then, it feels there is a lack of space to move around. It is way too crowded.   

One of the very first things that is visible in this park are red plastic chairs and umbrellas; the pavements are covered with them. The water near the restaurants is polluted with packets, plastic plates, glasses, coffee cups, cigarette stubs and what not. 

Both Gulshan and Dhanmondi are upscale neighbourhoods in Dhaka. Why are the two parks in completely different states? I set out to explore. 
 
Gulshan Lake Park is maintained by Gulshan Society

In 2021, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) signed two separate Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with Gulshan Society. As per the MoU, Gulshan Society will be responsible for the management and maintenance of the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake and Gulshan Lake Park on behalf of Rajuk. This will be renewed every five years. 

For the management of the approximately 8.5 acre Gulshan Lake Park, Gulshan Society has an executive committee of 19 members who are selected from the community by the society members. 

Among them, one is selected to perform the duty of managing the park for three years. For the last two years, Shayaan Seraj has been in charge.  

"One problem I face is that most people think that a park is only a place for walking or jogging; there shouldn't be any other activities here. But if you visit Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London, you will see people having picnics, community gatherings, community fairs etc,"  Shayaan said.    

He wanted similar things to take place in the Gulshan Lake Park. "Open spaces and parks improve our physical and mental health. So, when I got the responsibility, I tried to arrange events, activities etc that include the community around the park." 

In the last two years, the lake park has hosted health and wellness events, book fairs, fresh fruits and vegetables fair, art exhibition, cultural events etc. Shayaan's concept is to bring the community people out to enjoy the public spaces within some rules and regulations. 

However, managing a park requires funds. The fund for the Gulshan Lake Park comes from the community. According to Shayaan, Gulshan Society has more than 3,000 members - all are residents of Gulshan 1 and Gulshan 2. 

"Initially the donation amount for members was Tk500. But the problem is that some members don't want to pay the monthly donation as they believe it's the government's duty to pay for the park management. So, we have to call them up individually and ask for the donations because the money is used for paying the guards and gardeners," Shayaan said. 

To ease the process, the committee has a plan to develop a dedicated body formed with volunteers from the community that would perform these duties.     

Dhanmondi Lake Park serves the lessee and not the community

Due to its size or area, the Dhaka South City Corporation has leased out the Dhanmondi Lake into seven sectors. The area from Dhanmondi road no 27 (new 16) to Dhanmondi road no 32 (New 11) bridge is sector 1. This sector has a food court called Sampan and a parking space for eight vehicles. 

The area from Dhanmondi road no 32  bridge via Sheikh Russell Square on Mirpur Road to the northern boundary of the Kalabagan playground is sector 2. It has a food court called Bojra, a parking space for 30 vehicles, a public toilet and the Sheikh Russell Children's Park.

Sector 3 is from Dhanmondi road no 32 (New 11) bridge to Dhanmondi road no 16 (new 12/A) bridge. This sector has a food court, a parking space for 20 vehicles, two public toilets, and a skating club. 

Sector 4 is from Dhanmondi road no 16 (new 12/A) to Dhanmondi road no 8 bridge. It has a food court called Dingi and a parking space for six vehicles. 

Sector 5 has a parking space for 20 vehicles along with a restaurant named Panshee. This sector is from Dhanmondi road no 8 bridge to the project area behind the Kalabagan Bus Stand. 

Sector 6 is from Dhanmondi road no 8 bridge to the eastern part of the lake on Dhanmondi road no 6. This sector has a food court called Tori, a public toilet, and a parking space for 12 vehicles. 

The area from Dhanmondi road no 8 bridge to two parts of the Shaat Masjid Road i.e the opposite side of Sugandha Community Centre and the BGB Gate is Sector 7. The size of this sector is much larger than the others. There are five food vans, two food courts, a parking space for 32 vehicles and a public toilet.

When we spoke to architect and designer of the Dhanmondi Lake Park, Iqbal Habib, he sounded quite disappointed with the entire space management. 

"In 1996, when I finished the Dhanmondi Park, it included refreshment corners or food corners after roughly every one kilometre. We named these 'drinks corners' or kiosks. Kiosk has a certain size, it cannot be huge. But now when I go to Dhanmondi Lake, I feel embarrassed. It is no longer a community place, it's a commercial space full of restaurants and food stalls," he said. 

"Our plan was that only 3% of the Dhanmondi Lake would be caféterias and restaurants. But DSCC authorities have increased it to 12% to 15%. A park or lake should never have more than 5% of shops. The commercial activities of DSCC have also breached that condition," he added. 

He further informed that sectors 2 and 7 were non-remunerative in the original design; architects had no plans for these two sectors to generate money. Among the remaining five sectors, only Panshee was a large-scale restaurant; the other four sectors had small caféterias. There was a gymnasium and a health care centre. Now, all of them have turned into big food stores.

In 2020, DSCC decided to lease out these sectors for one year. This expanded the food courts even more. Before this, leasing was not tender-based or time-specific. But then the number of food shops was also not this many.

In the fiscal year 2022-2023, DSCC earned a little over Tk2.93 crores from leasing the Dhanmondi Lake. It is 0.35% of the corporation's total revenue in fiscal year 2021-2022.

So, who are these lessees who are supposed to take care of the lake? They are mostly local ruling party leaders and political workers. For example, sector 5 is leased to Kamal Ahmed alias Dulal, president of Dhanmondi Thana Awami League. 

According to the lease condition, the lessee is the person responsible for the management of the designated sector, including the restaurants and other food corners etc.  

But when we contacted the Panshee Restaurant in sector 5, we found one Borhan Ahmed taking care of the activities there. When we called him and asked if Kamal Ahmed looks after things, he replied, "No, he does not." 

Who is this Borhan Ahmed? He told us,"Kamal Ahmed and I are like brothers." 

According to the data provided by DSCC, Kamal Ahmed took the lease of sector 5 under the name of his company Intertrade General Traders located in Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria district. It was a fish farming company, which is currently closed, according to Borhan Ahmed. 

Kamal Ahmed is also a resident of the Dhanmondi Lake sector 5 area, technically belonging to the community. But he is not doing anything for its development. Like him, other lessees are also violating the lease conditions like cleaning the water, maintaining security, building no infrastructure etc.  

Umme Mahfuza, a resident of the Zigatola area adjacent to sector 7, has been visiting the lake area since her college days, for 25 years now. 

"There was a time when I felt like going there for a cup of tea and spending an afternoon amidst nature. But in the last two to three years, it has gone through such drastic changes that now I can't even walk peacefully because of all the noise and chaos," she said.    

In October 2022, 51-year-old Shahadat Hossain Majumdar, a resident of Kalabagan, was killed near the Rabindra Sarobar area. It seems the lake park also lacks security.  

Sector 1 lessee Zakir Hossain Swapan, proprietor of Fervent Traders, is the Awami League President of DSCC ward 15 and also the ward's former councillor.

Sector 2 lessee Mozammel Haque Bhuiyan, proprietor of Anika Trading and Company, is the Information and Research Secretary of Dhanmondi Thana Awami League.

Sector 3 lessee Rajibul Islam, proprietor of M/s Raj Enterprises, is the General Secretary of Dhanmondi Thana Chhatra League. The rest of the sectors are  also run by political leaders. 

Sector 4 lessee Anik Ahmed is the son of Shirin Gaffar, who is the councillor of Dhanmondi wards 14, 15 and 18. According to the article 9(2) of Local Government act 2009, no person shall be eligible to be elected to the office of Mayor or Councilor or to hold the office of Mayor or Councilor— if he or any member of his family is a contractor for the execution of works or supply of goods to the City Corporation or they are partners in any contractor engaged in such work or have any financial interest in any matter of the City Corporation or he or they become a dealer of any essential commodity appointed by the Government.

So, there is a clear breach of law here. 
 
Also like Kamal Ahmed, the lessees do not participate in any of the activities required for maintenance of the designated sectors. They simply employ their 'brothers' to take care of the work. 

According to the Preservation of Playgrounds, Open Spaces, Parks and Natural Reservoirs Act, 2000, the classification of open spaces, parks and natural reservoirs in all municipal areas of the country including Metropolitan Cities, Divisional Cities and District Cities cannot be changed. These premises may not be used or leased for any other use, which is clearly being violated in the case of Dhanmondi Lake. 

When we contacted the Chief Estate Officer of DSCC, Rasel Sabrin, he didn't pick up our calls. He was also not available in his office.