Do not let renovations alter historic sites' originality

Stating that the authorities concerned have been destroying the original state of historical sites during renovations, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday directed the cultural affairs ministry to be selective and to definitely refrain from making alterations while preserving antiquities.

The directive came during an unscheduled discussion at a cabinet meeting in Bangladesh Secretariat, two ministers told The Daily Star afterwards.

The ministry gave a PowerPoint presentation on some historical sites including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's ancestral home in Tungipara.

Hasina noted the renovation-induced loss of aesthetic appeal in most, including a 15th century Sixty Dome Mosque in Bagerhat and the 19th century home of Bangabandhu, and directed restoring those to their original state and bringing a list of the country's historical sites to her shortly.

On being selective, she said Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall and Shahidullah Hall of Dhaka University, instead of being preserved as antiquities like Curzon Hall, should be turned into high rises to alleviate sufferings of students facing accommodation problems.

“No structure should be underutilised in the name of heritage,” she said.      

SCHOOL, PARK, SHOPPING COMPLEX TO REPLACE JAIL

Hasina turned downed Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan's plea for constructing a training institute for jail officials and staff on the land in Old Dhaka which had housed Dhaka Central Jail.

She directed constructing it near the Keraniganj site where the jail has been shifted.

She directed the ministry to set up a standard higher secondary school, a modern park and a shopping complex with a cineplex on the 17-acre jails' land for the locals' amusement. She also directed the cultural affairs ministry to preserve the places where Bangabandhu had been confined and the four national leaders were killed. The authorities have already set up museums there.

The cabinet approved the draft of Bangladesh Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute Act-2016, aiming to use nuclear energy and technology for boosting the country's agricultural production in a sustainable manner, Cabinet Secretary M Shafiul Alam briefed journalists afterwards.