Market over schools in Chittagong!

Shoppers, not scholars? Photo: Noor Alam/ Drik News

CONSCIOUS people of Chittagong are now passing anxious days due to the adamant stance of Chittagong City Corporation's Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury regarding erection of markets over Aparnacharan Girl's High School and Krishnokumari Girl's High School situated in the heart of Chittagong city.
Though the people of the city were taken by surprise by such a move by the mayor, they are not sitting idle. Many renowned individuals, civil society groups, political parties, and student's organisations have already voiced their strong protest against such an attempt by the city corporation.
Processions, meetings and sit-ins are taking place regularly to persuade the corporation not to go for this construction. The media are also in favour of the public. Because it is not in the capital, the issue is not getting the attention it deserves.
And, therein lies the danger of the matter being hushed up by the ones who hold the sway in terms of political supremacy in the port city. Reportedly, these two schools were built nearly eighty years back on the land donated by a great personality for expansion of girls' education in this region of the country.
Chittagong City Corporation now manages these two schools. Does that responsibility, however, give the corporation the license to do whatever it wishes with them? Enlightened people of Chittagong are unanimous on the point that the corporation just cannot do so.
The contribution of these two schools towards betterment of women education has been immense. Many students of these schools are serving in the government and the country in various capacities. It bears special mention that Prilitlata Waddedar, a great martyred anti-British revolutionary of the subcontinent, was once headmistress of Aparnacharan School.
Interestingly enough, a good number of old markets of Chittagong -- New Market, Reazuddin Bazar, Rifle Club Market, Shah Amanat Market, and Jahur Hawker Market -- are positioned around these two schools. Thus, one more market and, that too, over the original school buildings and adjacent playgrounds of the schools will be redundant.
Moreover, the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), the building-design approval authority of the port city, has not yet approved the proposed design of the market building due to defects in the design. The question of propriety will, however, not evaporate even if CDA goes for approving the design any time because the all-important "public interest argument" will remain as strong as it is now.
The argument on behalf of the mayor is, reportedly, accumulation of money for development work. Concerned citizens of Chittagong have, however, rejected it outright. They are of the opinion that this is sheer commercialised thinking. It is quite natural that movement of the girls, too, will become highly hazardous, as the proposed multi-storied building will have a market and girls' schools in the same complex.
Admittedly, big cities of our country are becoming densely populated these days, Dhaka and Chittagong being the worst affected. Most of the newly set-up educational institutions, ranging from kindergarten to university, have no real infrastructure now, let alone a playground, which is a necessity for any educational institution.
It is really unfortunate that the mayor of the second largest city of Bangladesh is out to snatch the playgrounds from the two schools. Such an initiative by the elected mayor, not by an ordinary person, has thus saddened rather than infuriated the city dwellers. If the obstinacy persists, however, it might not take too long for the current peaceful movement to be transformed into an insistent one.
Though it was initially a plea of the students of the two schools, it is becoming a major city issue rapidly because the people feeling the prick of conscience just cannot exhibit inertia at such a move by the city father and his corporation. I hope that the mayor will soon permanently move back from his position of building the proposed market over the said schools.
Should the mayor remain intransigent, however, the government will have no option but to swing into action to dissuade him from doing so, more for its own interest than for the interests of the students of the schools. If the government opts for sidelining the issue, treating it a local concern, it will not take too long to become a national issue by courtesy of the ever-vigilant media, the outcome of which will hardly be pleasant for the fledging government.

Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam Quddusi is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. E-mail: [email protected].