Cultural activists in Mirpur have condemned the Dhaka North City Corporation for not reconstructing the open stage after it has recently torn it down.
They have also alleged that a vested quarter among the city corporation employees are manoeuvring to grab the land there, which is originally a DNCC-owned site where earlier a Town Hall complex stood, facilitating varied community activities.聽
They alleged that to grab the Town Hall land situated near the Mirpur Section 10 roundabout, these employees were now building a temporary mosque where the open stage earlier stood.
Local cultural activists said that in 2013, they built the open stage and named it 鈥楢pu Aman Muktabedi鈥� in memory of fellow activist Apu Aman, as the reconstruction of the Town Hall did not start in a decade after the old complex was demolished in 2003.
After its demolition, then Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka announced that a modern theatre hall would be built in place of the Town Hall, which eventually did not materialise.聽聽
Among the latest cultural activities organised at the open stage was a daylong street theatre festival titled 鈥楢pu Aman Natya Asar 2024鈥�, organised by Opera, a Mirpur-based theatre troupe, on December 13.聽
Some two months later on February 25, the north city authorities tore down the stage.
鈥楾he DNCC demolished the stage without any notice, leaving no space for holding cultural events there,鈥� said former general secretary of Mirpur Cultural Unity Forum Mahabub Alam Shaheen, adding that over the matter they recently met with DNCC administrator Mohammad Ejaz twice鈥攐n April 16 and April 28.
鈥極n April 28 at the DNCC head office meeting with the administrator, Mohammad Ejaz assured that the construction work of the makeshift mosque will be stopped and the construction of the Town Hall will start as early as possible,鈥� said Shaheen.
Golam Rabbani, another organiser of Mirpur Cultural Unity Forum, stressed that the DNCC鈥檚 responsibility was to maintain the Town Hall which was built during the time of former president Ziaur Rahman. But instead, they built a public toilet and warehouse in the compound, and were now building a mosque.
鈥楢 vested group want to build a market in the Town Hall site. They have instigated the DNCC to build a mosque there. Shopping malls and restaurants have mushroomed in Mirpur, but there are no public places for cultural activities,鈥� Golam Rabbani said.
He also told 抖阴精品 that the DNCC also demolished the Mirpur Public Library that was along the Zoo Road, and built its Area-2 Office building there.
Ashiqur Rahman Bhulu, founder coordinator of the Mirpur Section 6 unit of Mukul Fouz, a decades-old cultural organisation for children, and also convener of the Mirpur Cultural Unity Forum, expressed frustration over the DNCC鈥檚 alleged destruction of the sites dedicated to cultural activities and other community purposes.
鈥楢fter such a long movement of cultural activists, the DNCC should never make any project in the land dedicated to the Town Hall,鈥� Ashiqur Rahman Bhulu said, adding that after the appointment of Mohammad Ejaz as DNCC administrator, that vested group became active again to proceed with their ill intent of building a shopping mall in the Town Hall ground.
Mohammad Ejaz, who inaugurated the mosque鈥檚 construction on March 6, said that it was being built beside site kept for the Town Hall Complex and that the DNCC staff would say their prayers in it.
鈥業 have been working as a theatre activist for 30 years. I have even performed at the Town Hall. I will ensure that the construction work of the Town Hall Complex starts and an open stage is built on the Town Hall premises soon,鈥� Mohammad Ejaz said, adding that it was not a good sign that all the Town Halls in Dhaka city had become nearly extinct.
The DNCC administrator, however, did not give any tentative timeline when the construction of the Town Hall or the open stage may begin.
