A bulldozer of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha pulls down structures at Wonderland Amusement Park in the capital on Thursday, following a court order. — New Age photo

HC asks government

The High Court on Thursday directed the government to explain in two weeks why it should not be directed to preserve the site on which the Wonderland amusement park was built as a public park.
The bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Jahangir Hossain also asked the authorities concerned not to lease the government land till disposal of the rule.
Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha said it on May 7 demolished frontal boundary wall of the privately run-Wonderland park to free around four-acre of government land meant for Gulshan Central Playground following a directive of the Supreme Court.
The Rajuk chairman and the administrators of the Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation were asked to continue the ongoing demolition drive without any interval.
The court, however, directed the authorities to keep in mind during the drive that the natural beauty of the place was not destroyed.
The court passed the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking a directive on the government to protect the site as a public park.
The writ was filed against the backdrop of media reports that the government had a plan to construct a five-star hotel on the site.
The rights organisation’s lawyer Manzill Murshid told the court that as per the Rajuk plan, the land of the park was a public place. But people could not use the place as a park. So, it should be preserved as a public park, he pleaded.
He also prayed for necessary order from the HC to preserve the place as a park.