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Move to grab historic site?
Part of the historic Eidgah at Dhanmondi dating back to the mid 17th century, has been illegally occupied by a mosque committee.
More than two biffhas of the Eidgah land, earmarked by the Directorate of Archaeology and the Public Works Department (PWD) for a garden for beautification of the historic site in the city, has been "taken over' by a Waqf Estate belonging to the nearby mosque The occupied area has been surrounded by a five-feet high wall where two large signboards read. This land belongs to Abu Bin Kashem Waaf Estate"
As per official records, the area was taken over by the gov ernment through a gazette notification in 1981 earmarked as an archaeological site and handed over to the relevant de partment.
About a month go. cm a Friday morning as I was passing l>y the site I saw some workers raising a high wall around the
site. I immediately rushed to the Dhanmondi thana and filed a written complaint,' said a senior engineer of the PWD Following intervention by police. the workers stopped the work and promised to dismantle the half-done wall. But later, the wall was quickly completed and the signboards erected. PWD has officially alerted" the higher authorities about the take-over, he said.
The Muazzin of the mosque told this correspondent that the area was taken over by the mosque committee as it be longed to its Waqf Estate "as per a photograph procured from an archive in Calcutta." "The photograph shows the Eidgah and the same area as one. We even found the ancient markings while digging earth for the wall and surrounded the site accordingly." the Muazzin claimed. Some others in the area said that the owners of the Estate would build a market on the ■ite. **
When contacted, secretary of the mosque committee. Kera-mat All Bhuiyan, a former police officer said that the wall was constructed to keep "smugglers away from the site.'
Asked whether he was aware that the land was a part of a historic site and thus belonged to the relevant government department. Bhuiyan replied in the affirmative but said, "if anyone claims this land, tell him to see me " He claimed that about eight years ago there was a ministerial recommendation that the land could be handed over to the Estate so that a market could be built there.
When contacted, officials of the Administrator of Waqf under the Ministry of Religious Affairs said that no permission was sought from the office before the take-over The committee in question is in default of Tk 50,267.45 tn Waqf contribution to the government," said a senior official adding that none from the Estate showed up at his office for such an annexation.
A senior official in the regional office of the Directorate of Archaeology regretted the take-over ana said the Eidgah was an unique historical site visited by hundreds of tourists every year. "1 have written to the Mayor for making a garden there to protect the site but my letter was ignored." the official said showing document.
The Eidgah. used for Eid congregations, was built in 1640 during the rule of Shah Shula. "There are only two Ei-dgans of this kind, surrounded by walls, in the Subcontinent, the other being in Delhi." an official of Directorate said.
PWD officials, however, said that the open space in question was being maintained by them.