JATIYA SANGSAD portrays the sovereignty of a nation and people must have at least easy access to its vast green compound, if not inside the sprawling building on security reasons. But the government is now raising a high iron fence on three sides of the Sangsad ground despite protests from various quarters. The authorities are using the security concerns to accomplish the job.
According to reports published in local English dailies, the Public Works Department is working on the fence at the moment to be 8.5 feet high covering the South Plaza and the lawns in the east and the west sides replacing an existing four feet high barrier. The government move is destroying the original plan of Louis I Kahn-the architect who made the building to be a unique referral as a global landmark parliament building. Architects and visitors formed a “human chain” in the city on Friday last to protest new restrictions on the access to Parliament ground while decrying the deviation from the original beauty and design of this world famous architectural testimony. They raised the slogan “No wall on Kahn’s Plan” and we share their voice while asking the government to stop the move.
The Sangsad Bhaban at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar highlights the democratic appetite of our people from the very beginning of our struggle in the days of Pakistani administration. Commissioned by the then President Ayub Khan, the Sangsad Bhaban was built in 1961 only to make it the future parliament of an independent Bangladesh standing on 200 acres of land.
People protesting the high fence hold the view with full justifications that it would destroy the aesthetic touch and the beauty that surrounds the parliament complex. We also wonder why the government is raising the high fence and ask the government to review the plan. People gather in Parliament ground every morning for a walk from all directions and in the afternoon they move again to the ground with children and family members to pass lazy time in open air entertainment.
The security concerns of the government may be enough to control the movement inside the building. There is nothing to fear from the open air around the sprawling house. We believe that an unhindered access to the area has a direct bearing to developing an unhindered democracy and multiparty political culture in the society which have dominated the spirit of our liberation war. Any decision that may hurt the sentiment of the people need to be taken respecting their wishes and on top of it, a single party decision should not be dominating in this case. Let the open air remain open to the people, around the Parliament building.
