Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Bangladesh has a rich historical background and is a country of rich heritage and culture. But the projection of our culture and heritage to the international platform is not commendable. People of other countries do not know much about us and our heritage, culture. But we become happy to get satisfaction to tell our culture and history to others. There are many buildings and structures which have archeological, historical and cultural value situated in different areas in Bangladesh. Those structures and buildings are not getting due importance from appropriate authority or archeological department. The archeological department and other authorities generally give importance to the buildings which are prominent and people know well about those structures and buildings.
Among those buildings, Panamnagar at Sonargaon, Ahsan Manjil of old city, Nilkuthi of Aamjhupi at Meherpur, Barendra reachers museum, Barakuthi of Rajshahi, Uttara Gonobhaban, Dighapatia Rajbari,Thajhat Jamindar Place in Rangpur and the palace of Mohmmadali of Bogura at Bogura etc. Beyond those buildings and structures there are many other buildings seen in different places in Bangladesh. Those are AK Hall in Barishal, Khulna DC office, Jashore DC office, Kushtia Municipality office Building, Pabna Judge Court building, Dinajpur Maharaja House, Puthia Rajbari in Rajshahi, Chittagong DC office, Nagarpur Jamindarbari at Tangail, Muktagacha Jamindarbari in Mymenshing and many others Jamindars’ bari in different areas in Bangladesh.
Besides, a lot of ancient mosques and mandirs are now in the process of ruination. We can see many of those when we visit the areas where those are located. In Jashore city area one can see such ruined mandirs. Over the years those are being disappeared. One can also see the ruined mosque at Chehelgazi Mazar at Dinajpur. A portion of that ruined mosque is visible and the remains of that mosque is still erected and showing its existence.
We know Bangladesh is a land of flood plain and every year floods occur and for river erosion many important structures and buildings are destroyed by these natural calamities. And ultimately those structures become non-existent and settled in the page of history. Almost all the cities, important towns are situated on the bank of the rivers in Bangladesh. For that reason we lost many of our historical, religious, cultural important buildings and structures since the inception of civilization in this part of the south Asia. So the river training is very important to save our culture and history.
It is assumed the structures ruined or destroyed over the years were one of the sources of our rich cultural and religious heritage. We also know that our part of the then Bengal was under the kings followed Buddhist religion and ancient Bengal was under Buddhist rule pretty long time. That time Buddhist culture, religion spread vast areas of Bengal. The famous Buddhist thinker Sri Gayan Atish Dipankar was the man of this part of Bengal. But we did not find any big Buddhist structure in his birth place at Munshiganj. The Paharpur structure at Naogaon is one of the big structures telling about prosperous Buddhist heritage and culture. Still now we find many statues of Lord Buddha in archeological excavation in different places in Bangladesh.
Presently the old buildings and structures of old city of Dhaka are in very much dilapidated condition. Many of those buildings and structures are being demolished now by the owners. People are living there generations after generations. For that reason one such building has now many owners and that is why it is very difficult to spend money for the maintenance and refurbishing of that particular building. Most of the buildings are facing this sort of problems. As a result of these problems these old buildings are decaying or ruining. But it should be stopped now.
To do this the appropriate authorities should protect the old buildings and structures of the city. If that is so the old part of the capital city might appear as a must visit tourist spot in Bangladesh. There are many countries in the world where old part of the city is kept conserved. In this regard we can refer the area of China town and little India of Singapore. This part of the present day Singapore is being maintained systematically. The authority always keeps the old area clean without demolishing any building and also keeps this area as it was earlier. For that reason this area is an extra attraction of visiting tourist in Singapore for shopping. People come here to buy souvenirs and other attractive things. Especially the street view, life style of old Dhaka people, various food items in different restaurants of old city must not be destroyed like Singapore.
We know sea beaches, hills, forests are the traditional tourist destinations in Bangladesh. Government and privet sectors should make emphasis to promote those areas attractive to the tourists of home and abroad. For promoting nontraditional tourist spots some steps may be taken and those are as follows:-
a. To select old buildings and structures, mosques, mandirs for refurbishing;
b. Maintenance work of historically important old buildings and structures in different cities, towns should be taken;
c. Ancient mosques and mandirs situated in the remote areas should be maintained by the appropriate authority;
d. Make old city of Dhaka clean and different ancient building and streets should be rearranged in such a way that people outside of Dhaka can be interested to visit this placewith tourist inquisitiveness.
If all these steps mentioned above taken, the look of old Dhaka might be changed and at the same time different old structures such as ancient mosques and mandirs, abandoned Jamindar baris in remote areas should get appropriate maintenance and refurbishing work. In this way people feel attraction to visit those places. All these endeavors might be a new horizon of promoting alternative tourism and culture in Bangladesh in the days to come.
(Dr. Rumy is retired civil servant & freelancer)
