" We are hopeful of starting the development work of Osmani Udyan between June and July after completing the tender procedures and other formalities," said Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka while talking to Star City

A DCC official said that the work would be completed in phases. The first phase includes demarcation of the boundary wall, building walkways, tree plantation after felling some of the old trees which are not environment-friendly, digging a lake on the eastern side of the park, construction of a children's park, benches and a fountain. The total cost for the development and beautification of the park could be around Tk five crore, said a concerned official of the DCC.

The suggestions and recommendations came from a committee headed by noted intellectual and environmentalist Prof. Serajul Islam Chowdhury. The committee included environmentalists and DCC officials.

At present, the park is a turn-off for the common public. Human haulers are parked inside its premises, makeshift shops have been set up encroaching park space and floating people have turned it into their safe abode. Extortionists also take the opportunity to collect tolls from the encroachers. After dark, the whole area becomes a den of sex-workers, pimps and clients. Drug-addicts and muggers also roam around the park.

"One person named Ershad collects Tk 220 from each human hauler in extortion money. The amount is then distributed among the police, local goons and various associations of transport owners ," said one transport worker.

Shopkeepers of makeshift stalls on the other hand claimed that they had to pay Tk 40 each on a daily basis to a toll collector named Shahjahan for continuing their business.

According to DCC sources, the park now has an area of 19.6 acres although originally it was 23.14 acres. Some 2.81 acres of land on the eastern side is the subject of a legal dispute with one women claiming ownership of that land. She has also filed a case with the high court. Besides some portions have been handed over to the Golap Shah Mosque while Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra club, a group of typists, Titas Gas, the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police are using land originally belonging to the park.