School allows employee to make house on playground
A move to grab land, fear locals
A house (marked in circle), built by an employee of Saidpur Pilot High School in Nilphamari district, occupies a corner of the playground of the century-old institution, as the school authorities gave the allotment of the land for the purpose through a written agreement.Photo: STAR
Believe it or not, authorities of Saidpur Pilot High School have handed over, through a written agreement, a part of its playground to an employee of the institution for making house. Locals have alleged exchange of a good amount of money for the process but the authorities denied it. Local people including players and sports organisers submitted a memorandum to the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Saidpur yesterday demanding cancellation of the arrangement and steps to free the playground. Established in 1906, Saidpur Pilot High School beside Rangpur-Dinajpur road has a big playground in front of it. The school ground boasts of being the venue of public meetings on different occasions when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque, Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardi, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and other national leaders spoke. "In my boyhood I played in the field along with my friends. Besides students of the school, players of different football and cricket clubs practice games here. A number of football and cricket tournaments are also held in the ground," said college teacher Shakhawat Hossain, also a local resident. “But it is very sad that a part of the ground has been handed over for dwelling purpose,” he lamented. Asked about the matter, the lessee in question, Sankar Kumar, also a sweeper of the school, told newsmen, "I wanted some land from the school authority for my accommodation and the headmaster gave me the land at a corner of the school playground with consent of the school managing committee. I built the house on the land at my own expense." He denied any transaction of money with school authority for getting the land. Terming the incident as beginning of an unhealthy process, a number of guardians and locals expressed fear that the entire school playground will be gradually occupied if the move is not resisted. There is enough vacant land behind the school building within the campus and the school authority could allocate land for dwelling of the said employee there, they said. Principal Shabahat Ali, general secretary of Saidpur Cricket Club, and sports organiser Nesar Ahmed said they would go for movement if the occupied portion of the playground is not freed. When contacted, Anwarul Islam, headmaster of the school, told this correspondent, "A small part of the playground was allotted to Sankar Kumar, a sweeper of the school, as per decision of the school managing committee. For this a written agreement was signed with the sweeper." He claimed that Sankar was allowed to make house on a corner of the playground to protect the school ground from gradual occupation by outsiders. Saidpur UNO Anarkoli Mahbub said, "The school field plays an important role in promoting games and sports in the area. Local people have submitted a memorandum to me to protect the playground. Necessary steps will be taken after proper investigation."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments