On the verge of historical amnesia
Kamalapur Railway Station. Photo: Collected
It is a bewildering phenomenon to see the continuous onslaught on historical buildings that represent our heritage and our past. The recent decision taken by the Prime Minister s Office (PMO) to demolish the historic Kamalapur Railway Station building to make way for the MRT-6 line is a prime example of this trend. Bangladesh Railway (BR) and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) have reached a joint consensus to move the current railway station 130 metres further north and turn the present area into a multimodal transport hub (MmTH). It should be addressed that the initial design for the MRT-6 line was from Uttara to Motijheel. It was in 2019 that the DMTCL devised a new plan to stretch the MRT-6 line directly to the Kamalapur Railway Station. If the design can be changed once, it can be changed once again, if the government is willing to preserve a structure that has been a part of our national he