Built in 2001, both are only gathering dust

Yasmin Passenger Shed and Library built at Doshmile in Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur in 2001, are yet to see their functioning. Photo shows two passengers waiting for bus in front of the locked collapsible gate yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

'Yasmin Passengers Shed and Library' built in memory of Yasmin Akhter, who was raped and murdered by a few policemen at Doshmile in Kaharol upazila under the district on August 24, 1995, is yet to see functioning.
The gruesome torture on the 14-year-old girl nineteen years ago ignited days-long mass protest in Dinajpur and shocked the nation as well.
Dinajpur Zila Parishad constructed Yasmin Passengers Shed and Library at Doshmile area on Dinajpur-Dhaka highway in 2001 and former lawmaker M Abdur Rahim, also an organiser of 1971 Liberation War, inaugurated it.
The ground floor of the two-storey building was constructed as shed for passengers while the first floor was meant for a library.
But the building often remains under lock and key and there is not a single book in the library where the shelves and other furniture are gathering dust, locals said.
Visiting the spot two days, this correspondent found the main collapsible gate of the building closed while passengers were seen waiting outside the building, amid rainfall.
A memorial of Yasmin constructed beside the building in 2012 also remains in a dirty condition.
Md Azizul Imam Chowdhury, general secretary of Dinajpur unit of AL and administrator of Dinajpur Zila Parishad, could not be contacted as he did not receive mobile call.
A source of Dinajpur Zila Parishad said they have no fund for operating the library.