Playgrounds disappearing from port city

City people, especially youths and children, faced an acute shortage of facilities for outdoor sports. In most neighborhoods in Chattogram, in the face of rapid urbanization, there arose a crisis of adequate playgrounds alongside other social spaces.

Local people said that a number of playgrounds disappeared over the years while existing playgrounds fell into disuse for lack of maintenance while some of them remained occupied by private clubs, restricting public access.

Sociologists pointed out that playgrounds were not only important for providing scope for amusement, but also for the fact that outdoor games decisively contributed to children's creativity alongside their physical and mental growth.Children having no plying facility were at high risk of getting hooked on harmful habits such as drug addiction and other illegal activities, including eve teasing, they said.

Having a playground in the neighborhood also has other social and practical benefits.Where urban planners keep asserting that open green spaces in the heart of an urban sprawl provide the much needed lung space for its residents, playgrounds in Chittagong city are fast disappearing due to multifarious reasons such as encroachment, unplanned urbanization, business-driven mentality, and lack of proper maintenance.

The existing playgrounds in Bangladesh's premier port city remain occupied most of the time for commercial, political and religious events, depriving children of the experience of being outside and the opportunity to exert themselves physically.

Organizers keep the playgrounds filled with bricks, sand and cement far ahead of their events, causing severe damage to the fields' green turf and thus leaving them unsuitable for sports.Chittagong's key playgrounds Jamboree Field in Agrabad area was once the centre of sporting activities in the city. An amusement park for children there has already taken over a considerable portion of it.

During a visit to Outer Stadium at Kazir Dewri, this correspondent found a portion of the field earmarked for construction of a swimming pool and the rest for an upcoming textile fair. Meanwhile, at Polo Ground, workers were found busy erecting stalls and pavilions for a trade fair.

Chittagong Abahani Ltd has a playground of its own in Halishahar area, which turned unfit as well for sports, with the authorities concerned not maintaining it for quite a long time.The open ground in front of Jamiatul Falah Mosque was once open to sports lovers. But the field is no longer used for sports as the authorities have designated it for hosting prayers during the Muslims religious festivals such as Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.

With almost all other fields in the city either encroached upon or in a sorry state, Parade Ground of Chittagong College is the only open space, which is free from the growing pressure of political or commercial events.veteran sports organizer expressed concerns over the rapid disappearance of open spaces, saying the country's sporting arena may suffer a lot if immediate measures are not taken to protect them.

"Regrettably, playgrounds in the port city have now turned into fairgrounds. We are ruining the childhood of our children by limiting their opportunities to only indoor games," lamented Prof Khan. Bangladesh's opener and highest run-scorer Tamim Iqbal, former captains of the national cricket team Akram Khan and Minhajul Abedin Nannu, and former footballer Ashish Bhadra all hail from the city, he said. Open fields are shrinking fast.

I think 70% of the total open space in the metropolis has been grabbed in the last two decades." playground crisis had become a major impediment to the development of sports in the city.The number of playgrounds for children has decreased. Kids do not have adequate facilities to participate in outdoor games.

According to the World Health Organisation, children of the age group of 5 to 10 should spend at least an hour a day playing outdoor games for proper physical and mental growth. But urban kids are being deprived of sporting opportunities both at schools and at their neighborhoods as open spaces are rapidly disappearing in the face of urbanization.

A livable city should have at least 10-25% of its total area as open and green spaces. The master plan for Chittagong city, formulated in 1995, too suggested designating 10% of the city as open spaces.

Mentioning the Latin phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" (a healthy mind in a healthy body), the shrinking opportunities for sporting and physical activities are contributing to stunting children's physical and mental growth, which is one of the major causes of the upward trend in obesity and being overweight among urban children.

Inadequate playgrounds compel our kids to play indoor games using digital devices like tabs, laptops and mobile phones. This digital addiction, too, is responsible for obesity and improper mental growth of the children.Outdoor games help children to socialise and develop leadership qualities.

"It is beyond doubt that the number of the playgrounds is declining. We will write to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to take steps to reclaim the already grabbed playgrounds," he said.When addressing an event in November last year, CCC Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin, too, conceded that the city did not have adequate playgrounds.

"The existing playgrounds remain occupied with fairs and exhibitions, thus depriving children of sporting activities. It is imperative that measures be taken to free the fields to make sure the younger generations are sports-oriented and have the opportunity to play," he added.

Disaster experts said that during any disaster like fire and earthquake, the open spaces like playgrounds and parks served as disaster shelters or were used as rescue operation centers.

Local people found that the authorities concerned were indifferent about maintaining the existing inadequate number of playgrounds while creating sufficient playgrounds for the increasing number of people still remained a far cry.Most of the city playgrounds, which were under the city corporation, were in the hands of the grabbers.

Dhaka University Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies Professor Mahbuba Nasreen said that open spaces were important for they serve as shelters during disasters like fire and earthquake and help firefighting agencies to conduct rescue operations from there.

Dhaka University sociology professor Sadeka Halim said that a playground has its own importance for mental, psychical and social development of children. Nothing could substitute the importance of playgrounds.

She said that socialization of children happens when they went to common places and shared views or played together. If there were no playgrounds, the children would not get the opportunity to get together.Residents said that for the lack of care from the authority, the playgrounds lost the usability. government should restore all the playgrounds first and declared them public spaces.

'There are many government lands in Chattogram which should be converted to playgrounds and other types of open spaces. If needed, government should also acquire land to develop playgrounds, he argued.

More patches of open spaces would only mean more avenues for the urbanites to vent their thirst for greenery and playgrounds. Chattogram was once known for its myriad playgrounds and water bodies. Open spaces and playgrounds were a social-psychological need, according to experts.