Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
Urban planners on Friday called for gradual relocation of all the crowd-gathering structures, including the Milestone School campus, from the flying approach zone (FAZ) of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Otherwise, as they warned, similar mishaps like the Milestone tragedy might occur again.
According to Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), the Milestone School is located within the inner approach zone of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, posing risks to public safety and health. Though the CAAB (Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh) regulates building height under Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS), there are no clear land use restrictions for sensitive structures within the flying zone. Neither Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) nor Detailed Area Plan (DAP) provides specific guidelines for the use of lands in these high-risk areas.
Globally, facilities with large public gatherings--such as schools and hospitals--are discouraged in such zones while such practices are not followed in Bangladesh, according to BIP. In urban planning, the flight trajectory of any aircraft must always be kept safe, which is folllowed in developed countries, where airports are usually located at a considerable distance from city centers, with buffer zones in between. Although Dhaka Airport was originally built away from the city, rapidly expanding city has grown closer to it over time. It was essential to investigate whether all the buildings of the institution had proper approvals from RAJUK and CAAB.
Throughout the year, residents of Dhaka face a myriad of civic nuisances. In the sweltering summer months, Dhaka transforms into a heat island, taking a heavy toll on public health, labour productivity and the economy. Monsoon season brings its own set of woes, with waterlogged and pothole-ridden roads bringing the city to a standstill. Furthermore, the onset of winter brings a surge in air pollution, shrouding the city in a thick haze of smog. It is because of the manifestation of one adversity after another in each season, compounded by the perennial issue of traffic congestion, outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases and overburdened utility services, Dhaka is rapidly becoming a mess and increasingly uninhabitable.
Runaway population growth in the city is putting tremendous pressure on its open spaces and wetlands. Parks, fields, and open spaces have disappeared or are disappearing. We are left with fewer playgrounds. Water bodies disappeared long ago. And now even the rivers are dying due to pollution and encroachment. Apparently, it never dawned on the decision-makers that disappearance of greeneries and wetlands would have a disastrous impact on the environment of the city. Only some experts and environmentalists opposed this suicidal tendency of pursuing 'development' at the cost of environment.
Ideally, a city should have at least 15 per cent green space and 10-12 per cent wetlands. But a study by BIP found that green space in central Dhaka has shrunk to a mere 7.09 per cent, while wetlands cover a meager 2.9 per cent of the city's area. That being so, effective measures must be taken with urgency to ensure properly planned urbanisation. Strict monitoring and vigilance of RAJUK and city corporations is a must to stop unplanned and haphazard urbanisation. Development without proper planning is counterintuitive. No development project should be implemented that harms the environment unless we want to expose ourselves to environmental degradation.
The Milestone incident should serve as a wake-up call. It is time to revisit our development priorities and reframe our policies with a future-oriented vision that puts human safety, environmental integrity, and urban functionality at the core. If lessons are not learned now, the cost of inaction will be far greater.