Work suspended

Parking lot inside Lalbagh Fort

The demolished perimeter wall of the 16th century Mughal-built Lalbagh Fort will be rebuilt. Work on a parking lot inside has been stopped, in compliance with a High Court order on Sunday.
"We stopped all work on the parking lot on Friday," Altaf Hossain, director  general of the Department of Archaeology, told The Independent yesterday. The demolished sections of the perimeter wall would be restored in a week, removing all construction materials for the parking lot inside, he added.
His remarks came after a delegation of Paribesh Banchao Andolan (POBA) and 16 other organisations, led by POBA president Abu Naser Khan, met him at his office yesterday and called for stopping all work inside the fort and restoring its pristine glory.
They submitted a memorandum to the DG, saying they were shocked at the demolition of the fort's wall, deforming its glory, to build a parking lot inside.  
Despite clear-cut constitutional guidelines to protect historic sites that the Department of Archaeology has been assigned, it was regrettable that the department was building a parking lot inside the fort, wasting public money. The same DoA had not taken steps to protect many historical sites for, what it said, was lack of money, the POBA memorandum pointed out.
Khan said they demanded punishment of those responsible for such destructive activities, and an assurance that this would not recur.

Work suspended

Parking lot inside Lalbagh Fort

The demolished perimeter wall of the 16th century Mughal-built Lalbagh Fort will be rebuilt. Work on a parking lot inside has been stopped, in compliance with a High Court order on Sunday. We stopped all work on the parking lot on Friday, Altaf Hossain, director general of the Department of Archaeology, told The Independent yesterday. The demolished sections of the perimeter wall would be restored in a week, removing all construction materials for the parking lot inside, he added. His remarks came after a delegation of Paribesh Banchao Andolan (POBA) and 16 other organisations, led by POBA president Abu Naser Khan, met him at his office yesterday and called for stopping all work inside the fort and restoring its pristine glory. They submitted a memorandum to the DG, saying they were shocked at the demolition of the forts wall, deforming its glory, to build a parking lot inside. Despite clear-cut constitutional guidelines to protect historic sites that the Department of Archaeology has been assigned, it was regrettable that the department was building a parking lot inside the fort, wasting public money. The same DoA had not taken steps to protect many historical sites for, what it said, was lack of money, the POBA memorandum pointed out. Khan said they demanded punishment of those responsible for such destructive activities, and an assurance that this would not recur.