DU-AEC dispute over campus land
Akbar Hossain
Authorities of Dhaka University (DU) and Atomic Energy Centre (AEC), a research institute under the Atomic Energy Commission, are at loggerheads over a piece of 3.86-acre land beside Bangla Academy on which the AEC is situated.The government had decided to shift the Atomic Energy Commission from the same land to Agargaon in the city by December 27 and hand over its building to the DU. The DU authorities, who claim possession of the land, will take over the building of the commission after it moves to Agargaon. They also claim there have been an understanding between the DU and AEC, which the latter denied. Sources said the government has now asked the AEC to move to its Savar complex. However, the government will not set up any new structure for the AEC there. The government's decision has caused resentment among AEC officials, who said research will be disrupted after the DU moves to their land. "We have so many vital instruments that can't be relocated without having any permanent structure," said a top AEC official asking not to be identified. He also said there have been academic exchanges between the AEC and different universities and currently 10 DU students are doing their research work at the centre. "The AEC was established in 1964 on DU land, in exchange of which the university took two acres of land where its Arts Building is located," the AEC official claimed. "We bought the land at Tk 70,000 in 1961 and we have every valid document," the AEC official added. But the DU authorities denied the AEC claim, saying they allowed the AEC to set up its office on the campus. "At the beginning, the DU had over 600 acres of land, which has now been reduced to 285 acres. As the number of students and departments have increased, we need more land to build more infrastructure," DU Treasurer Prof Syed Rashidul Hasan told The Daily Star. He said expanding the university vertically is not possible, as it will damage the aesthetic settings of the university. "The AEC at a meeting two months back agreed to hand over the commission's building to the DU by December 27. The handover of the entire land is supposed to take place by April 2005," Prof Hasan claimed. But the AEC authorities refuted the claim, saying there was no understanding on the handover. On the academic exchange, Hasan said, "It's true some teachers and students of the science faculty use the AEC facilities, but this won't be hampered if the AEC is shifted."
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