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Ctg and political rhetoric

MOHIT UL ALAM
Is Chittagong to the fore? The answer to the question is no. Politically Chittagong has been brought to the fore because of the anti-British armed struggle in the thirties led by 'Master Da' Surya Sen and because of the War of Liberation in 1971 that started from Chittagong.
Economically too, Chittagong should have been to the fore, but it is not. Political rhetoric is the way with our leaders, and it was nothing but one such when the Prime Minister in the past regime came to this port city and amid much fanfare proudly declared Chittagong as the business capital of the country. We, the Chittagonians, simple-hearted, generous, brave and non-duplicitous, believed in her words and watched ruefully all major commercial concerns like the Lever Brothers shifting their headquarters to Dhaka. The headquarters of railway had long been moved to Dhaka, and I am sure, if it were physically possible there would be an attempt to uproot the whole port along with its bay, anchors, ships and offices, and transplant on the Buriganga. This depriving Chittagong, or for that matter any place, of its essential business potential is nothing but an index of sick economy. Imagine the cost that the country's exchequer now bears for every file to move to Dhaka for an authoritative approval. My point is that if Chittagong is to be the commercial capital then all executive powers in conducting trade and business should lie absolutely with Chittagong offices. My second point is that the administrative set in Chittagong should be redesigned, it should be empowered more, and at least the secretary for commerce should be based in Chittagong.
Chittagong is the country's second city, but look at its development, and to label it as snail-speed would be an overstatement. The people of Chittagong would like to know, if it is
the country's greatest revenueearning city, then why should it not have more money allocated from the national budget for development. The physical shape of the city of Chittagong is like a mango leaf, tapering down at the two ends and fat in the middle. The ends connect Patenga airport in the west and Bahadderhut in the east, a stretch spreading over 20 miles. The city widens at the middle part the nexus comprising areas like Muradpur and Agrabad, with Kazir Dewry and Anderkilla as two central points. From north to south the city has about five to six miles to boast. The long road from Patenga to Bahadderhut snakes along the river Karnaphuli for about five miles from the airport and then near Barek Building it takes a turn away from the river and shoots off straight to Bahadderhut for the rest of the distance. This is the one highway that really dominates the landscape of Chittagong city, and one only wishes that there were more roads like this. There are not many detours in Chittagong can be attributed to the constraint created by the hills. Chittagong hills, though Buddhadev Bose did not fancy them as they were neither awe-inspiringly high nor small like mounds, are yet the most beautiful aspect of the city. But we are technologically deficient and are yet to have roads around hills. A bitter critic would say we never have had the money. One of my relatives who toured America in the late fifties came back finding much similarity between Chittagong and Sanfrancisco. He told us that he was impressed by the way the Americans had kept the hills intact and still made the city. On the other hand our method is crude and simple -- cut down the hills. A nature-loving person, an environmentalist, and a human civil engineer cannot but shed tears seeing the speed at which hills are being daily levelled.
Another aspect of beauty that has fallen to neglect is the Patenga Sea-
beach. Recently I went to Thailand and drove down from Bangkok to Pattaya, a tourist city with a small strip of beach, for a bath. Believe me, it is much smaller and less exciting than Patenga as a beach. But what has the government not provided there! Towering five-star hotels, speedboats, fish harbour, restaurants, bathing facilities and what not. The Thais earn a lot of revenues from tourism. We have God's gifts here, and still do not move a finger. A French proverb says, there are cows everywhere but you have to do the milking. The Patenga beach today is what it was forty years back -- an unattended strip of sand washed by the indifferent waves of the sea. Or worse, because as an eyesore to the expansive arrangement of nature where the river Karnaphuli is meeting with the Bay of Bengal, a naval base has been created there and its very rampart rounds off the tip that provides the most vantage point to see the scene. The visitors who go there to watch the sunset are denied this privilege and feel like lame ducks as their thirst for enjoying nature remains unquenched.
Chittagong has all the potential to be developed into a 21st-century mega-city. Chittagonians have always felt that the centre's attitude to this port city is step-motherly if not outright niggardly. I know of many organisations now emerging with a view to raising awareness of the people about the deprivation that the city has been subject to and also to putting pressure on the government for more allocation of development budget. I hope all their efforts will be successful. C
Mohit Ul Alam is a professor of the Department of English, Chittagong University.