Open fields and greeneries are essential for the wellbeing and safety of any urban community and a healthier physical environment.

So how many parks does Dhaka city need? According to rules, it should be 92, one for each ward. But we have only 54, with several of them having ceased to exist and many threatened.

When it is transparent that there is a huge scarcity of open space and playground, a move is going on to turn a portion of Basabo Balurmath (playground) to a school and a college violating rules.

The initiative under an education ministry project on the field was taken in 2011 and now the ministry has started to construct a boundary.

“I always bring my students here to play cricket,” said Kamrul Islam, a teacher of JK Coaching Centre of the area, who along with 15-20 teenagers visits the place every other week. “The place gets quite crowded on a Friday, so we come here on weekdays,” he said.

Mubasshar Hussein, vice president of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa), said according to the original plan of Public Works Department (PWD), the place was clearly demarcated as a park but it is now turning into a school and college which is totally unnecessary as huge numbers of educational institutes are there.

Shawpon Chandra Paul, project director of constructing the school and college, said they are constructing the institutions for providing educational facilities to the low income people.

Though there were private educational institutes in the area, there is a scarcity of government schools and colleges, he added.

He said the entrance of the field, which they had cleared earlier to construct the part of the institutions, were being occupied again and shops and other structures have been constructed. Why they (those who are against the project) are not taking initiatives to keep those place open, he asked.

Amirul Islam, deputy project director, said they received three acres of land from Deputy Commissioner's office following all due procdures on July 25, 2011, of which they are implementing their project on two acres.

He said they have left one acre (though they did not return it officially), which was at the entry point of the field, following a decision of an inter-ministerial meeting on June 16, 2011.

Hanif Shahid, general secretary of Sabujbagh Thana Balurmath Rokkha Committee, said there are around 145 schools, colleges and universities including two government schools within the one kilometer area of the field, which covers three areas -- Basabo, Kadamtola and Sabujbagh.

The field was a jheel in Pakistan period as the then Pakistan government had taken soil from the place to construct Kamalapur Railway Station. The place was later handed over to the PWD and the area was earmarked as a jheel in Cadastral survey (CS), Revisional Survey (RS), State Acquisition (SA) and even in the record of City Survey, Hanif said. 

Hanif said PWD published a gazette in 1997 where 39 bighas (around 15.6 acres) of land was earmarked as the field, including a children's park, and filled it with sand in 2004-2005 and turned into a field, except for some portions. 

Hanif said they have filed a writ petition after the initiative to the High Court and there is a High Court stay order against any construction. The HC vacated their petition on February 18, 2016, and they are preparing to go to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in this regard shortly, he said.

There was an attempt in 2004 to construct plots as some unscrupulous persons tried to take possession and another in 2009 to construct a post office, he said, adding, but amidst protest, both of the initiatives were unsuccessful.

Locals said some influential persons of the area are running around 30-40 shops illegally at the south entrance of the field and several rickshaw garages are occupying the western side of the field.

Nine green organisations on July 3, 2015 protested the move of turning the field into educational institutions and demanded that the government save the field from encroachment and keep it as an open space.

Iqbal Habib, joint secretary of Bapa, said Basabo Balurmath was earmarked as an open space in Rajuk's Detailed Area Plan (DAP). Therefore the initiative will violate the DAP act 1953 and open space and water body protection act 2000, he said.

Md Golam Hossain, local ward-4 councilor, said the citizens of his ward are against the move as they want to see it as a playground or park.

“As a ward councilor I am completely against it,” Hossain said, adding, “There is hardly a place in the area to breathe fresh air.”

Iftekhar Mahin, a resident of the area and a student of Suhrawardy College, who was playing cricket with friends under the sun on Wednesday, said the field should be protected; otherwise their playing areas will be reduced since a huge number of children and youths come here to play.