The Bangshal pond on the Haji Abdullah Sarkar Lane was excavated over fifty years ago, when the city boasted of several hundred ponds providing ample surface water for the citizenry to cook, wash and bathe.

Over the years all the city ponds vanished without a trace. For instance, the famous Shuritola pond near Bangshal was filled up few years ago to make room for a primary school.

Mohammad Awal Mia, a carpenter from Rangpur working at a nearby timber shop came to the pond on Saturday for a dip. He said that the pond serves thousands of workers like him to wash every day.

"The Buriganga water is toxic, there is hardly any supply water in the taps so thousands of poor people like me find this pond the only way out for washing, but its water is becoming unusable due to use of various chemicals," Awal said.

The Bangshal pond serves over 3,000 marginalised people in the old part of the city each paying Tk 2 for a dip. On an area of 3.75 bighas the pond area is an oasis for the visitors in a concrete jungle that is believed to be one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. One Haji Bhutto had donated the land for the pond, a mosque nearby and a graveyard.

President of the Bangshal mosque committee Hasan Reza said that they had to resort to commercial fish farming to raise funds for the re-excavation of the pond.

"I know it is causing pollution in the water but we have to raise funds for the re-excavation, which we intend to take up in January 2008. The pollution problem is temporary," Reza said.

"The money that is raised here every day is spent on salaries of thirteen maintenance workers, the mechanised water pumps and also for other social works in the area," said Reza.

"This pond is our pride and we shall protect it at any cost," Reza said.