Dhanmondi has disintegrated from one of the earliest planned urban oasis to a hotbed of commercial activism right in front of our eyes. We do have to accept the fact that due to rising population pressure, construction of new apartments and the resultant congestions are inevitable. Additionally, it is acceptable that there will be some facilities such as neighbourhood schools and health centres to cater to the residents' needs. However, it is NOT acceptable that Dhanmondi be treated as Dhaka's hub for private health care, private English medium schools, and commercial universities and coaching centres. Go to the DCC, and they will say that the lands are on a 99-year lease under the Ministry of Land or Ministry of Works or what not. Regulating their use is therefore a bureaucratic exercise at best. The enclave of Sobhanbagh right behind Road 32 is full of apartments that are 10 or 15-story high, with narrow roads and blatant building code violations. The DCC must have been in hibernation when all these were happening in the past decade and a half.

If you look up in the web in terms of the Mega cities of the world, Dhaka is one of the top 20 cities. Dhanmondi is the microcosm of the mega city that has a prophetic message for DCC i.e. lack of enforcement of land use, the laissez faire attitude of commercial exploitation of the area, the overwhelming congestion of traffic through the area, and the utterly chaotic providing of utilities in an upper middle class suburb. Now visualize the city 10 to 15 years down. It is not a pretty sight. The DCC's charter probably does not have the provision for citizens' services or long term planning.

Why blame the Mayor? He does not have a clue....