ENVIRONMENTALISTS have again raised the point that construction of two residential buildings on the JS premises is an environmentally untenable proposition.

The speakers addressing a rally organised in the city by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon said that the plan to construct two more buildings in the JS area was a clear and highly undesirable deviation from Louis I Kahn's master plan of the complex, believed to be an architectural work of great standing.

The environmentalists have also addressed some pertinent questions raised by the government decision to go ahead with the planned construction. We are told that there was no place for any residential quarters in Kahn's original plan, rather there was a provision for turning the open space into a playground. Of course, there is a big difference between the environmental impact of a residential building and a playground. It is a sad truth that those who approved the plan of constructing the two residential buildings for the Speaker and the deputy speaker failed miserably to realise that it amounted to tampering with the original plan.

People who are now opposing construction of the two buildings do not have a stake in the matter, except that they want the environmental needs of the city to get due attention. The decision-makers should ask themselves why the environmentalists are viewing the project with such reservations. The answer is not difficult to find. The city is left with very few open spaces, as the concrete monster is spreading its tentacles in every direction, looking for more and more areas to grab. But we might be putting our future at a grave risk by just helplessly watching what is going on. Some determined attempts must now be made to contain the monster.

Matters can only worsen when the government takes up a project, hostile to the environment. As the environmentalists are doing everything to make themselves understood, the decision-makers should be convinced that the buildings would only spoil the serenity of the site. They should not only abandon the project, but also come up with a set of clear policy directives in order to protect all the open spaces in the city in future.