Dhanmandi revisited

by SHAFIQ RAHMAN

The police car's siren is deafening as it tries in vain to break through the gridlock of traffic. Behind it stands the flag-bearing car of an Advisor of the government. Curious commuters on rickshaws, buses and cars try to peer through the window of the vehicle. A sort wry smile plays on many faces. Dhaka's traffic jams do not discriminate; they are for everyone whether a VIP (very important person) or a VOP (very ordinary person). And this particular scene is not on any highway or main road of the city. This is in Road No. 10A of Dhanmandi. Who would believe that this is the very same Dhanmandi that was once the most romantic area in Dhaka with its lush greenery, open expanses and an air of tranquillity? Dhanmandi is now like any other messy and chaotic part of the city. In fact, it is worse than many.
The kind of traffic jam one would encounter in Dhanmandi is rare even in Motijheel commercial area. Motijheel at least gets quiet after office hours, but in Dhanmandi it seems to be almost round the clock. And if there is rain, you are in serious trouble. A sizable part of Dhanmandi goes under water just in a couple of hours of heavy rain.
In 1952 the East Pakistan Government at the time developed Dhanmandi as a posh residential area where high profile politicians, government officials and other prominent persons of the society could live. Hussain Shahid Suhrawardi, Ataur Rahman Khan and Sheikh Mujibar Rahman were among politicians who were allotted plots here.
Until the eighties, Dhanmandi managed to keep its clean and green look. Fahmida Malik, a resident of Dhanmandi, reminisces in her writing: "There were no shops or malls on every road. There were no deafening horns blasting endlessly. There were no piles of garbage at every corner, with waste churned out from community centres and apartment blocks. You could hear the birds singing in those days. If you did actually hear a car horn, you would know that one of the neighbours must be having a visitor!"
Fauzia Kabir, Convenor of Dhanmandi Paribesh Unnayan Jote, recalls the Dhanmandi she saw as a teenager in the 60s. "My father was the DC. When he made our house in Dhanmandi, it was so empty. There were only a few houses here and there. There were no shops or marketplaces here. We had to go to New Market whenever we needed something. After sunset we could even hear the jackals howling."
That peaceful place called Dhanmandi began to change since the mid eighties. The one or two-storeyed bungalows gradually began to make way for multi-storied buildings. The price of land shot up and the landowners began using virtually every square foot of space available. Trees were cut down and open spaces disappeared. Though Dhanmandi was supposed to be residential area, offices were being established gradually.
Now Dhanmandi has become more of a commercial area than a residential one. While the government body responsible for the planned development of Dhaka has been responsible for allowing commercial use of Dhanmandi, RAJUK cannot be blamed alone. The landowners are also equally guilty. A good number of landowners have rented their houses to schools, colleges, clinics, banks and other organisations. Massive shopping malls, business enterprises and even universities have been established in the area. Dhanmandi has lost its residential character.
According to a study conducted by the development organisation SCPL (Sheltech Consoltant Private Ltd.) in 2004, there are 44 schools, 6 colleges, 12 universities and 12 other educational institutions like coaching centres, computer training centres etc in Dhanmandi. As for commercial enterprises, there are 15 banks, eight community centers, 24 departmental stores and confectionaries, 16 fast food outlets and restaurants, 20 NGO offices, 19 boutiques and beauty parlours. The list doesn't end here. There are 31 clinics, 16 hospitals, 14 pathological laboratories and 12 diagnostic centers. Dhanmandi with its 473 acres of land is home to all these apart from the residential buildings. And more are cropping up almost every month. No other area in Dhaka has more commercial institutes that can even come close to Dhanmandi. And no other areas in Dhaka have had the misfortune of losing its residential features so rapidly and so absolutely.
Living in Dhanmandi is a nightmare for many of its residents who opted for the area because they considered it a clean, green and quiet place which are some of the basic conditions for any residential areas. Architect and urban planner Salma A Shafi complains, "I live on Road 6. Over the last one year three hospitals have been established on this road and a police station. And a steadily increasing number of vehicles find place in front of the police station, seized by the police in accidents or for breaking the law in some way or the other. Sometimes these cars occupy almost the entire road and I simply cannot get my car through."
Dhanmandi Paribesh Unnayan Jote's Treasurer Nargis Ahmed has to tolerate similar torture. "I live on road 10/A. There are 5 schools on the same road. In the mornings and when school breaks, the road looks more like a carpark than a street. It is just not possible for anyone to pass through either in a car or even rickshaw. And this is happening on a regular basis," she says helplessly. If an ambulance is caught here, the patient will be in dire straits," she points out.
There have been some efforts to ease this infamous traffic jam that Dhanmandi seems to be doomed to suffer. Recently five streets have been made one way, but things have improved little. The most terrible aspect of Dhanmandi's traffic jam is if there is jam in just one street, all the other streets get blocked pretty quickly.

Faulty planning

The City Authority developed a 20-year master plan Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) in 1995. The DMDP mentioned Dhanmandi as a mixed zone, but did not give any details like what type of mixed zone it would be and exactly which kind of establishment would be allowed here, observes architect Saif Ul Haq. "You would find everything here, schools, clinics, universities," he adds.
Abu Naser Khan, Convenor of Save the Environment Movement, says, "We prefer mixed zone when it comes to urban planning. The advantage of mixed zone is people have everything they need in their day to day life and therefore need not go outside that zone. It's good if you think in terms of the entire Dhaka. Dhanmandi however is not a good example of mixed zone. You find schools as well as community centers as well as clinics here. Consequently people come to Dhanmandi for treatment from all over the city and again for schools and universities from all over Dhaka. The result is clear."

Busiest place in Dhaka

It's a dubious distinction. Until recently Motijheel, the commercial centre of the city, had been the busiest place in Dhaka. But now Dhanmandi has occupied that spot. Motijheel is busy at certain point of time like the office hours. Two/three hours after the offices are closed Motijheel becomes quite empty. But not Dhanmandi. You go to Dhanmandi and you would find yourself caught in traffic jam whether it is 9 o'clock in the morning or 8 in the evening. While schools, college and office goers keep Dhanmandi busy throughout the day, the shoppers take over in the evening roaming around the ubiquitous shopping malls and eating out at fancy restaurants.
Dhanmandi is not only the busiest, but also one of the more polluted parts of Dhaka. Add to the list sound pollution and it cannot get worse than this.

The future is bleak

Dhanmandi had a total of 1083 plots, each of these plots had one or two-storied buildings. In 1980, Salma A Shafi claims, Dhanmandi's population was 9,600. By 2000 around 75% of those plots were used for high-rise apartment buildings or shopping malls. The population by then reached 72,000. The number is certainly higher now. Some believe some 5 lac people stay and roam around in Dhanmandi during daytime and the number goes down to two lacs at night.
The coming days will be worse. Until recently one was allowed to build six-storeyed buildings, but in the Dhaka City Building Construction Policy passed in 2005 the limit was raised to 12 storeys. The problem is Dhanmandi does not have adequate utility service arrangement to afford such a high population. The roads, sewerage and drainage lines were developed for one, two or at most three-storeyd residential buildings.
Again Road 27, Road 2, Satmasjid Road and Mirpur Road were declared commercial area roads. The idea was to shift the commercial institutions into these roads, but that did not happen.

No playing fields

There are four fields in Dhanmandi, but all of them are under the control of big clubs like Abahani, Kalabagan, Women Sporting Complex and Dhanmandi Club. There are really no playing grounds for young children to simply play. Children are thus forced to play in the rooftop and garage.

Sound pollution and water pollution

In 1998 the authority set the highest ceiling for sound at 45 decibels for 6am to 9 pm and 35 decibels for the period between 9 pm to 6 am. But a survey conducted by WBB (Work for A Better Bangladesh) Trust found sound at the rate of 76 decibels from 7 am to 11 am and 7 pm to 11 pm. At the same time the highest rate in Farmgate is 80 decibels and in Saidabad 83 decibels.
Abu Naser Khan warns of another scary possibility. The tannery industry in Hazaribagh is releasing poisonous liquid incessantly. Since water is being lifted at a higher rate than usual, it is likely that this poisonous liquid from Hazaribagh would come here and pollute Dhanmandi's underground water.

It was an open, green and peaceful place

Architect Saif Ul Haq

I have been living in Dhanmandi since 1989 though I had been a frequenter to Dhanmandi for 10 years before that. It was an open, green and peaceful place. There were just two shops at the top of Road 5 on Mirpur Road, called Titash and Bichitra. Different imported cosmetics items were available here. What I have seen Dhanmandi was never a completely residential place. There were foreign embassies, cultural centers and local and international NGOs. However there was no chaos, something you would now always find here.
Unplanned development and indifference of the authorities are responsible for today's predicament. The residents also share the blame. They could not consider this place their own. Now many of them are living abroad, but the damage is done.