Portraits of Begum Rokeya, Jasimuddin, Jibanananda got place on wall of footpath in Segunbagicha, Sanjeeb Chowdhury excluded

The portraits of the pioneer of the women’s awakening and women’s rights movement Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, rural poet Jasimuddin and poet Jibanananda Das have been newly added on the wall beside the footpath freed from occupation in Segunbagicha of the capital.

The pictures of these three talented persons were drawn on the wall as part of the beautification of the footpath on the initiative of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) yesterday on Tuesday (October 13).

Earlier the portraits of 10 talented persons who contributed to art, literature and culture including Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Satyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam were drawn on the wall of this footpath adjacent to Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. The number of the renowned persons across the wall has increased further with the addition of the three new portraits. However the picture of journalist and singer Sanjeeb Chowdhury has been excluded from the list.

Chief Waste Management Officer of DSCC Air Commodore Mahbubur Rahman Talukdar told the media about the three new portraits, ‘This is part of our plan. The portraits of more talented persons will be added. We have finalised some more walls, work will start quickly on those.’

On the matter of erasing the portrait of Sanjeeb Chowdhury and drawing another portrait there he said, ‘There is a huge difference of time of Sanjeeb Chowdhury with those who are here. Many of us have also said why is there no Ayub Bachchu here, why is there no Azam Khan. We also have thoughts about the youths. There is the plan of doing their portraits in the university campus area.’

Dustbins and benches have been installed for the convenience of the movement of the pedestrians along with the renovation of the footpath with the portraits. The boundary wall has also been renovated. Earlier one part of the footpath was under occupation. DSCC took the initiative of beautification after freeing that from occupation.

Administrator of DSCC Md Abdus Salam inaugurated the beautification work of the footpath in the morning on Monday October 5. He said at the inaugural programme that the hawkers will not be allowed to sit by occupying the roads and footpaths of the capital. However the arrangement of their sitting has been made in the alternative places by considering the matter of the livelihood of the hawkers.

The administrator of DSCC said seeking the cooperation of the city dwellers to keep Dhaka clean and green that keeping the capital ‘clean and green’ is not only the responsibility of the government, it is also the responsibility of the city dwellers.