Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman sculpture being demolished in Jhenaidah

The 'Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman Square' and sculpture built at the entrance of Jhenaidah district town are being demolished. Although workers have been working to remove the square for the past few days, none of the local authorities could initially give a specific explanation as to who is demolishing it and why. This has created a lot of confusion in the local community about the matter.

The demolition of the square, located at the junction of the Jhenaidah-Kushtia and Jhenaidah-Jashore highways in front of the Jhenaidah Central Bus Terminal, was witnessed on the spot. When asked about it by the working workers, they did not comment on the matter and advised to contact the municipality.

A passerby said that at the entrance of every town, there is usually a sculpture or portrait as a memorial to important people or heritage of the district. At the entrance of Jhenaidah, there was also a memorial of the district's pride, Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman, which is now being demolished, but no one knows why.

Siddiqur Rahman, a freedom fighter from Jhenaidah, expressed his anger over the incident and said that Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman wrote the history of heroism by sacrificing his life in the great liberation war. He commented that if there was a square and sculpture in his name at the entrance of the city, the new generation would have known about him.

When asked about the removal of the square, the acting executive engineer of Jhenaidah Municipality, Md. Rashed Ali Khan, initially said that he did not know why it was being demolished and that the Deputy Commissioner would be better able to say in this regard. When contacted, the current Deputy Commissioner of Jhenaidah, Md. Noman Hossain, said that he did not know that this was a memorial of Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman, and the district administration is not demolishing it. However, he said that the decision to remove the square from the site was made long ago in coordination with the Roads and Highways Department and the Municipality, and that the old decision is probably being implemented now. He also said that there are plans to build a new sculpturr of Bir Shrestha in the future. However, Hafizur Rahman, Executive Engineer of the Jhenaidah Roads and Highways Department, rejected this claim and said that he did not know who was removing the square.

Although the current officials could not give a clear explanation, the former Deputy Commissioner of Jhenaidah, Abdullah Al Masud, said that the decision to remove the square was taken in the meeting of the then Law and Order Committee in response to the request of media workers to reduce public suffering and restore order on the roads, because it was obstructing traffic. Now, it is likely that the previous decision is being implemented.

Hafizur Rahman, nephew of Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman, has expressed strong anger and sorrow over the incident. He said that the then municipal chairman contacted their family and invited them to the inauguration ceremony, and his brother Mustafizur Rahman was also present there. But now, through Facebook, he sees that the square is being demolished, but the family has not been informed why or on whose orders this decision was taken. He believes that if the sculpture had to be removed for the sake of road safety, at least the family could have been discussed, and he strongly condemned and protested against this incident, stating that removing it like this without informing anyone is tantamount to showing disrespect to Bir Shrestha Hamidur Rahman.