RCC loses Tk 8cr in Chikler Beel project: Mayor

Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) has suffered a loss of Tk 8 crore after failing to maintain a recreational park around the 100-year old water body named Chikler Beel at Sagorpara outskirts of the city, the city’s Mayor Mustafizur Rahman said.

Inaugurated on Pohela Boishakh (first day of the Bangla month of Boishakh) in 2015, the park was built using RCC’s own fund and some 33 employees were appointed to look after the park.

The park offered various rides across the 1.25-kilometre long water body, bringing the area under a massive plantation programme, and floating speed boats on the lake to attract the city dwellers and children for recreation and leisure.

At the beginning, the park received huge response from visitors every day.

However, almost all rides and machineries in the park and speed boats on the lake went out of order soon due to lack of proper maintenance and repairs.

Seeking anonymity, RCC officials said that quality machineries were not set up in the park. There were mismanagement and irregularities in purchasing rides and machineries. So they went out of order soon.

Spot visit in the park found that there are power run merry go round, rocking cradle, car riding, toy-train, speed boats in the lake, sitting arrangements for the visitors, long walking space across the bank of the lake, and different varieties of trees and plants.

Due to lack of proper maintenance and overhauling, all the rides and machineries went out of order except the one-speed boat. Sitting benches have broken down, while cracks and pot-holes developed on the walking spaces across the water body in the park.

The city corporation closed the park for the dilapidated and poor condition soon after city dwellers stopped visiting the spot.

Abul Khayer Masum, a city dweller said, civic amenities were not developed properly in Rangpur City Corporation since its inception in 2012. Rangpur Zoo, the only recreational spot in the city, does not have many birds and animals.

“We used to visit the Chikler Beel park often to escape the bustling city life, but has been closed for a while,” he added.

Shafiqul Islam, a floating shop owner who used to sell different items for the kids in the park, said, “The closure of the park has become a threat to many vendors. We demanded reopening of the park soon.”

RCC Mayor Mostafizur Rhaman said, “We have made a plan to modernise the park. Around Tk 8 crore to set up the park during the tenure of the former city mayor has been fully misappropriated.”

“We have formed committees to sell the old rides to install new ones to reopen the park soon,” the mayor added.