The decision to have the demolition process of the BGMEA building at Hatirjheel commence is without question a matter of relief for people across the country. For far longer than necessary, the huge structure has not only been an eyesore in the centre of the capital but has also been a symbol of defiance of the laws that ought to govern citizens' lives.
It ought to have been for those behind the construction of the structure to consider the manifest illegality they were engaging in when they moved to have the building rise at a place they could not legally and ethically lay claim to.
On a larger basis, it should have been for Rajuk, once moves were afoot for the BGMEA building to rise, to move in forcefully and prevent such a step from being taken. Even more surprising has been the fact that the foundation stone for the BGMEA building was laid by one prime minister while it was inaugurated upon completion by another prime minister. That should not have happened.
Now that Rajuk plans to begin demolition of the BGMEA structure, we as citizens are relieved that the law has finally prevailed and that nothing will be done to subvert it in any way. The judiciary, through making it clear that the building had to come down, has rekindled hope among citizens that in matters pertaining to the public good no individual or organization will in future dare to make moves which militate against decency and against the interests of citizens. The legal battles over the BGMEA will remain a powerful instance of a society finally prevailing in the end against all odds.
That the structure was at all built was a grave insult to the collective intelligence of the nation, a bad sign of how a powerful coterie could flout the law, ignore ethics, defy politics and go ahead in all its brazenness to have its interests take precedence over everything else.
In these past many years we have had even ministers publicly calling for the BGMEA structure to be brought down, but the elements behind its rise were too powerful to be tackled. Now that the moment of reckoning is finally here, we as citizens look forward to a time when those who manipulate conditions in their narrow selfish and class interests will think twice before embarking on missions that eventually are unsustainable in the long run.
Let the demolition of the BGMEA structure be done smoothly and quickly. And let no structure of a similar horrendous form rise again to strike at the law and at our sense of aesthetics.
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