Editorial
Demolishing heritage sites in the name of development must stop
Cumilla Town Hall Photo: Star
It is sad to see how greedy business people and influential politicians of our country have been trying to grab or demolish our century-old heritage sites in the name of development. Already many such sites and buildings have been destroyed for development . The century-old Birchandra Ganapathagar and Nagar Milonayton (the town hall) of Cumilla town is going to be the latest victim of such mindless demolition attempts. Apparently, the local lawmaker, who is also an adviser to the town hall committee, is one of the initiators of the move to construct a new and modern town hall. Although cultural activists, civil society members and residents of the town have been protesting against the decision, it seems, nothing can stop the lawmaker from demolishing it, as he has all the local powerful people and government officials on his side. People have alleged that the lawmaker is tryi
Cumilla Town Hall’s Heritage Site Status: Public hearing or political gathering?
Cumilla Town Hall Photo: Star Our Correspondent, Cumilla Our Correspondent, Cumilla
The public hearing over the acquisition of century-old Birchandra Ganapathagar and Nagar Milonayton (the town hall) in Cumilla as a heritage property was scheduled to start at 11:30am yesterday.
For the last couple of months, activists and residents have been protesting a move to demolish the historic town hall to construct a new and modern establishment there. And yesterday, people of the town were supposed to gather there and express their opinions regarding the matter.
However, since 9am, supporters of Cumilla-6 lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar started to throng the town hall premises in droves in support of the lawmaker and demolition of the historic establishment.