‘Revise design of newly-built Shaheed Minar’

Disappointed by the design of the newly build Shaheed Minar on KC Dey Road in the port city's Nandan Kanan area, locals said they will pay tributes to Language Movement and Liberation War martyrs at a makeshift structure of the memorial on Chittagong Municipal Model High School premises on Victory Day.

The cultural affairs ministry undertook a Tk 281.39 crore project in 2018 to modernise the Muslim Institute Hall, expand the Central Public Library, and build a new Shaheed Minar.

Under the project implemented by public works department, an eight-storey building with a 900-seat auditorium, a 350-seat mini auditorium, two seminar rooms, an art gallery and a souvenir shop was built in place of the Muslim Institute Hall.

A new Shaheed Minar has also been constructed under the project, demolishing the old one in 2018. However, the design of the new structure remained unchanged, said Rahul Guha, executive engineer of PWD Chattogram.

"Since then, the locals have been using the makeshift memorial to pay their tributes. With 88 percent of the works being complete, we hope to finish the project by June next year," he added.

However, things took a different turn after a group of cultural activists and civilians expressed disappointment regarding the lack of greenery and aesthetic features in the memorial during a recent visit there.

A 21-feet high overpass, built to connect the Shaheed Minar to the cultural complex on both sides of the road, covers the memorial making it invisible amid other concrete structures, they added.

Demanding the demolishment of the overpass and walls to ensure the new memorial is visible from the road, they decided to not pay tribute ay the new structure on Victory Day this year. The decision came at a meeting on December 2.

"Despite being the main structure, the new Shaheed Minar is smaller than the other structures, which is frustrating," said poet and journalist Abul Momen.

"If the overpass is demolished, then Muslim Institute and Public Library will remain on one side of the road and Shaheed Minar on the other side. Then no one will object," said Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, a freedom fighter.

"The memorial should be visible from the road; therefore, the overpass needs to be removed," said Prof Dr Anupam Sen, vice chancellor of Premier University in Chattogram.

Rahul Guha said they will revise the design if they are instructed by the ministry concerned.