Our heritage under threat

THE incidence of demolishing heritage buildings in the capital's old part evidently shows how little we care about preserving our heritage. The rate of destruction is at an all time high as a statistics show that just in the last four months alone as many as 33 Mughal and British era structures were demolished. Rajuk's permission for knocking down some five more buildings having being secured more is on the pipeline.
Our question is what is the Urban Development Committee (UDC) entrusted with the task of maintaining and preserving the heritage sites doing? Why is implementation of our Antiquity Act conspicuous by its absence?
Ironically, as the concerned authorities for heritage protection keep themselves busy to identify the responsible persons behind demolishing old buildings, flattening of old and historical sites goes unrestrained. On top of it, since its formation in 2004 the UDC has failed to prepare a list of buildings with heritage value in spite of a High Court ruling to this end.
According to a heritage specialist there are around 34 archetypal Mughal structures left in today's Dhaka and in order to protect them we stress on the need for strict implementation of the Antiquity Act. Moreover we want to see the irresponsible officials of the heritage protection authorities taken to task for their negligence. Dhaka is losing its antiquity fast and there is urgency to protect whatever remains of our heritage.