Tucked away in Wari, Old Dhaka, Baldha Garden stands as a silent witness to a century of change.
Established in the early 20th century by zamindar Narendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury, it was once filled with rare and exotic plant species gathered from across the world: A botanical treasure and one of the oldest surviving gardens in the subcontinent.
Today, it struggles to breathe under the weight of the city around it.
High-rises block out the sunlight its rare species depend on to survive, while garden staff routinely burn waste within its grounds, choking the air with smoke.
Poor maintenance and unchecked littering have left parts of the garden neglected and degraded.
What was once a sanctuary of biodiversity is now a space gasping for light and air.
The garden’s plight reflects a broader crisis facing Dhaka’s heritage sites. As the city grows vertically, its historical spaces are squeezed into irrelevance.
Baldha Garden is not just losing its plants; it is losing its purpose, its history, and its place in the city’s memory.
A century-old botanical heritage site is being slowly suffocated, not by neglect alone, but by the city’s relentless vertical growth pressing in from every side.
Without urgent intervention, this once-living museum of rare flora may become just another forgotten corner of Old Dhaka.
