This playground in Segunbagicha is going to be another victim of mindless construction in the city destroying open spaces. The move has surprised as well as angered the locals.

Teachers, students and guardians of the three schools and residents of the area are now desperately trying to save the field as this is the only playground for thousands of students of the three schools and children of surrounding areas.

"Children from Kakrail and Topkhana areas also come to play here because this is the only open space in this area," said a resident.

Assemblies, annual and inter-class football and cricket tournaments of 2,500 students of the three schools are arranged on this playground. Girls' volleyball tournament and annual sports of UCEP and other schools are arranged here, locals said.

On Wednesday at around 11:30am, 20 children were playing football on the playground. "It broke our hearts when we heard that a building will be built here. We have tournament all round the year. If our field is grabbed then where will we go to play?" said Rubel, a student of class seven of Segunbagicha High School, looking sad and crestfallen.

The playground has an area of around 1.5 bigha of land. Forty four percent of the field belongs to Segunbagicha High School and 40.3 percent to Government Ideal Primary School, according to the headmasters of the respective schools. The field is also shared by Begum Rahima High School.

Although most parts of the field belong to the schools the decision to construct the building was taken keeping the school authorities in the dark.

"A few days ago I saw some people doing soil test on the playground. They told me that a research center would be built here. That was the first time we came to know that a building would be built here," said an elderly teacher requesting anonymity.

"Thousands of students of three schools, and children from nearby areas play on this field. These children can go astray in the absence of recreational facilities. How can any person with a conscience take such a decision to destroy this field is beyond my comprehension," he said.

The ground floor of Ideal Government Primary School, which has a six-storey foundation, is mostly vacant and its vertical extension towards east can make space for eight rooms. Teachers urged that these spaces could be used as URC.

Motahar Hossain, assistant engineer, Dhaka division, LGED, said it is a project of Tk 16.40 Lakh funded by the World Bank and the proposal came from DPE. An URC attached with the Ideal Government Primary School, will be built on the part of the field belonging to the same school to train primary school teachers. In the first phase they would build one-storey of the four-storey building.

"As an engineer I can come up with two suggestions to save the field, if one of the buildings has the required foundation and the rooms can be made 20x30 feet then URC can be made on top of it," he said.

Sources at DPE said that its planning wing is looking after the project.

"As per official rule the site was selected by the representatives of LGED, Upazila Education Officer and URC Inspector and then approved by primary and mass education ministry. I do not know why they selected a playground in the first place and now after getting the approval we came to know about it," said a high official of DPE.

Now the headmasters can apply to the divisional deputy director of DPE and district primary education officer to solve the matter, he added.

Yusuf Chowdhury, convener of Shegunbagicha field saving committee said,"This is the only playground in ward-56. We treasure it. There is Dhaka University playground but we cannot use that. The area is now swarming with apartments. Where will these children go? If they remain confined for long they will go astray."

A local resident said that the authorities are in a hurry to lay the foundation of the building because of money involvement in the process of constructing a new building.

"I myself am a contractor so I know that there are ample chances of theft in laying foundation of a building than making additional floors. Besides why will they resort to a new building without discussing the matter with us when we can accommodate the URC in our existing buildings?" he said requesting anonymity.

Manjur Hossain Malu, deputy general secretary, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) said that the playground is used by the project of BFF and Asia Football Confederation to promote football among youngsters under the age of twelve in the grassroots level.

"If this field is lost then we will not be able to use it as a training ground," said Malu, who was a student of Segunbagicha High School and became a famous footballer. Many other famous footballers of the country had grown up playing football in Segunbagicha playground.