Dhaka Shopping

New Market (Bengali: নিউ মার্কেট), north of Azimpur, Dhaka began its construction in 1952 by C&B Dept. on 35 acres (140,000 m2) of land during the period Mr. Nurul Amin, the Chief Minister of East Pakistan. Market was completed in 1954. Mr. Nurul Amin was also active in establishing the first posh Hotel Shahbagh at Shahbagh area (now PG Hospital). This heralded the beginning of a new area of development towards modernizing Dhaka. Rickshaw ride or walking along the narrow lanes of old Dhaka for shopping was not a happy experience for families. Old Dhaka was too conservative, noisy and crowded. Ironically, Mr. Nurul Amin’s modernization project boomeranged as people talked against it. Some believed New Market and Shahbagh Hotel were made exclusively for Nurul Amin’s family. The rumor gave credence to common people, so much so that in the general election of 1954, Muslim League was routed in East Pakistan by the United Front of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq and Maulana Bhasani. Mr. Nurul Amin lost in election miserably against a less known student leader, losing the deposit money.

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