Achievements and Failures
Since its establishment, the Society has been involved in multifarious activities: these include creating civic awareness among residents and visitors, seeking assistance of concerned public agencies in controlling violations of civic laws, pressuring the service delivery organizations to do their mandated duties and managing and implementing projects with financial assistance from generous donors. In many cases the Society does not succeed due to strong opposition of vested groups, bureaucratic red tape, apathy and corrupt practices. But there are a few startling success stories to boast. One of those is the recovery of South Park from unauthorized occupation and restoring its status as a Park despite strenuous efforts by powerful quarters to convert a large part into a Convention Center and shopping mall. The Society earnestly wanted to take over its management for providing better service to the residents but till now the City Corporation has not acceded to this request. The efforts are on and the Society is hopeful to succeed in its efforts. Similarly, the lease for amusement park has also been cancelled. RAJUK has done some development work. The Society is working with them for its management transfer.
To assist people in locating their destinations within the Model Town, road signs for each road and road maps at various intersections have been placed very prominently.
To provide better environment for outdoor exercise and recreational facilities, the Society entered into an agreement with RAJUK in 2007 for the management of the Lake Park. After assumption of management responsibilities, the Society implemented a development plan with funding from generous donors. Under that plan, the Society has widened the walkway and paved the entire stretch with ceramic brick; has constructed a very functional amphitheater for conducting open air cultural activities; re-excavated the lake for retention of water round the year; constructed a bridge for connecting both banks of the lake; installed sophisticated lighting and sound system and constructed a health care shed and toilets for the use of visitors to the park. Some small pieces of work like construction of gates and setting up benches and umbrellas remain to be finished. Work is going on and the project will be completed in couple of months’ time.
One of the crowning achievements of the Society is the implementation of the Gulshan Society Jame Masjid Project on a little more than 15 kathas of land allocated to it by RAJUK in 2008 at a token price of Taka 1001/=. Through the courtesy of the Chairman, Navana Group LTD. a temporary mosque was constructed and offering prayer started on 26th September, 2008. RAJUK has approved a 10-story building plan, two basements and eight floors, capable of accommodating 4000 plus musullis. In addition, the masjid will have provisions for women prayer hall, class rooms, Hefz Khana, Islamic Research Center, Library, IT and seminar facilities for discussing contemporary subjects and issues. Construction at Level 7 is in progress and work on the remaining Level 8 is expected to be completed by March, 2015. So far an amount of Tk 17 (seventeen) crore has been spent and another 10 (ten) crore would be needed for completing all work. Funds have been generated exclusively through donations in small and big amounts by sincere drives conducted by the Chairman of the Masjid Committee, Salman F. Rahman, A.S.M.Rashidul Hai, Mahbubur Rahman, Jahurul Islam Chowdhury and many others.
The Society has conducted “Clean Gulshan’ drive on a number of occasions in the past and experimented with community policing but failed to achieve a lasting impact. This negative experience points to the fact that there is a need to design more practicable programs that will have some chances of success.
