The High Court on Wednesday ordered the government to stop the construction of an elevated expressway extension from the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation to the Plassey crossing through the Panthakunja Park and the Hatirjheel water body in the capital.
The court also asked the authorities not to block public access to the Panthakunja Park and Hatirjheel.
The ruling came in response to a writ petition filed by environmental activists, university professors and members of the Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement, a platform of green campaigners.
The petitioners include Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement coordinator Amirul Rajiv, writer and columnist professor Anu Muhammad, Dhaka University professors Gitiara Nasreen and Samina Luthfa, Jahangirnagar University professor Adil Mohammad Khan, and environmental activists Syed Mahbubul Alam, Naim Islam and Firoz Ahmed.
They earlier raised concerns stating that the project would damage green spaces and a major urban water body 鈥� both important for the city鈥檚 environment and public recreation.
The High Court asked the government to explain why the expressway extension should not be declared illegal, and why it should not be moved to a suitable location that would not affect the environment.
The court also questioned why the original water body from Maghbazar to the FDC at Hatirjheel should not be restored.
Government departments and project authorities, including the road transport and bridges ministry, the environment, forest and climate change ministry and the Dhaka South City Corporation, have been asked to respond to the court鈥檚 order.
The petitioners鈥� lawyer, Jyotirmoy Barua, submitted before the court that the construction of the elevated expressway extension from the FDC to the Plassey crossing near the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology was destroying the vital green space at the Panthakunja Park and harming the local biodiversity.
Nearly 2,000 mature trees have already been cut down, displacing thousands of birds and damaging the urban ecosystem, he added.
Jyotirmoy argued that the Panthakunja Park was not just a public space 鈥� it鈥檚 an essential part of civic life for Dhaka鈥檚 residents.
The park provides a rare green space in a densely built city, and its destruction has restricted public access.
Earlier, the writ petitioners led a 168-day sit-in inside the Panthakunja Park starting on December 14, 2024, after witnessing tree cutting and material stockpiling at the park for the project.
The protest halted the construction work, drawing public attention to the environmental damage.
On December 23, 2024, interim government advisers for roads, housing, and environment ministries visited the park and promised to meet protesters. But the promise was not kept.
Jyotirmoy argued that the expressway extension ramp 鈥� built through the park and partially over the Hatirjheel water body 鈥� was not part of the original design.
He said that consultants and project officials 鈥榠llegally鈥� changed the plan for 鈥榩ersonal benefits鈥�.
This violates the city鈥檚 master plan, which designates both Hatirjheel and Panthakunja as protected public spaces.
He informed the court that the 鈥楽upport to Dhaka Elevated Expressway PPP Project鈥� initially began in 2011 with a budget of Tk聽4,917.57 crore for land acquisition, relocation and utility shifting.
But with the government now covering Tk聽7,330.57 crore, 52.9 per cent of the total cost, the public is paying heavily for a project that has strayed from its approved plan and threatens the environment, he said.
This is not the first legal battle over the Panthakunja Park.
In 2014, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association filed a writ against the illegal construction of a secondary transfer station at the park and adjacent roads.
In 2015, the High Court ruled in BELA鈥檚 favour, ordering that the STS be relocated to another suitable site, and that the Panthakunja Park be preserved as open space in accordance with the city鈥檚 master plan.