Since the late 1980s, the children's park located in Dhanmondi Road 4 was in the grasp of drug dealers, sex workers, hijackers, etc.
There was a time in the early and mid-1990s when the local residents were afraid to venture towards that park even during broad daylight after several incidents of hijacking and murder.
The seesaws, slides and swings provided by Dhaka City Corporation became so rusted and inoperative that it was hard to find a single child in the park.
In a roundtable meeting of The Daily Star few years ago, speakers lauded the efforts of this community.
In 2002, the daily's senior reporter Morshed Ali Khan praised DCA on its work during a cricket tournament at the park in its sports page.