Shah Alam Nur :
At least 19 community centres out of 48 of the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporations have been taken over by law enforcing for using those places as their offices.
These Local Government-run community centres have actually been constructed mostly for the use of weddings and other celebrations by public.
Because of taken over of these community centres many public education institutions are being used as affordable alternative venues. And many of the private venues are too expensive and beyond the means of those with limited financial resources.
Lalbagh, Bangshal, Wari, Mugda, Bashabo, Dhanmondi, Roopnagar, Khilgaon, Kamrangirchar, Pallabi, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Moghbazar, Tikatuli, Khilgaon and Mohammadpur community centres are now being used by the law enforcement agencies — Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police.
To overcome the situation Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) – plan to construct seven more new such centres in the two city corporations as soon as possible.
“As per plan the construction work of the new community centres is scheduled to be completed by 2016”, said Executive Engineer of the DNCC Khandker Mahbub Alam.
He said these community centres will have all modern facilities, including banquet hall, restaurant, gym, swimming pool, day-care centre and cybercafé Of the proposed seven centres, six will be constructed in DSCC and one in DNCC. Dhaka Urban Infrastructure Equipment Private Limited Project will implement the project, he said.
Executive Engineer of the DSCC Tanvir Ahmed said sites have already been selected in Jurain, Sutrapur and Kamrangirchar for construction of three community centres.
Out of the existing 36 community centres in DSCC, 22 centres are now in bad shape and steps have been taken to renovate these centres, he added.
The DSCC earned Tk 1.7 crore by leasing out the community centres to the people in fiscal year 2014-15. DNCC’s social welfare and cultural affairs official Abdul Bari said there are 13 community centres in the five zones of DNCC.
He said of these centres, DNCC is using its Banani centre as its office and several the law enforcers are using Mohammadpur, Moghbazar and Khilgaon as its office. General people can use other centres for their different programmes.
Besides, the DNCC earned Tk 16 million as rent from these community centres in fiscal year 2014-15, he said.
A police officer of Mugda Police Station said they are “forced” to use some public community centres, given the importance and necessity of establishing a network between the law enforcers and the people as well as to ensure public safety.
He said, “We are using the venues because there is no other alternative. But this is just a temporary arrangement. As soon as we find suitable places, the community centres will be freed for public use again.”
Meanwhile, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman said if people were unable to hold social, cultural and religious functions because of taken over of the community centres, this amounted to more than breach of civic rights.
He said, “Communities with little or no access to healthy social activities and cultural interactions could easily turn to social ills and criminal activities.”
