Buckland Bund (Bengali: বাকল্যানড বাঁধ)is a historically significant architectural creation situated by the Buriganga river bank of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was first created by C.T. Buckland in 1864 who was the commissioner of Dhaka during that period.
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C.T. Buckland was appointed the commissioner of Dhaka 1864 and he had a very successful tenure at this post for 5 years. Even though there was already bund by the Buriganga riverbank from the Mughal period, it was Mr. Buckland who was the first to take the initiative to build a metalled road over it. That’s how the road by the riverbank came to be known as the Buckland Bund which lengths almost one mile starting from Forashgonj to Babubazaar.
Initially Mr. Buckland collected the funds to build the bund from Dhaka’s well established and rich people amongst whom the names highlighted in news are Abdul Gani, Kali Narayan Rai, Jagannath Rai Chowdhury and Mohinimohon Dash. In Nazir Hossain’s Book “Kingbodontir Dhakai” he mentioned Bhutto Hazi as well as one of the financial contributors. Mr. Buckland started the construction work with the collection of tk.65, 000 but unfortunately he could not finish the work during his reign of 5 years as the commissioner as he had to leave Dhaka and as believe by many, it was probably Mr. Simson the next commissioner finished the work of Buckland Bund. It is said that the fund collected by Mr. Buckland was not enough to finish the construction work, hence his successor Mr. Simson arranged more tk.10,000 from the local fund and borrowed tk.8,000 from Khwaja Abdul Gani Miyah to continue the work even though there was still a little financial shortage. Seeing this, Khwaja Abdul Ghani donated Tk.2,000 more to help the cause and tk.2, 000 more was collected as tax from Mohini mohon Dash to arrange the rest of the fund.
A few more information was collected from the autobiography of Hridoynath Mojumder. According to him, during the first year of construction the road was built from Northbrook Hall to Owaiz Ghat and in the next year it was built from Ruplal House to Badamtoli Ghat. The east side was completed with the donation of Ruplal Dash and the west side was completed with the donation of Nawab Abdul Gani whereas the middle part was built with the donation of the government.
Buckland Bund was a place for recreation and passing time for local people not only in the 19th century but also in the beginning decades of the 20th century. It was a very attractive place to visit for the middle class local people of that time. During C. T. Buckland’s period, under government initiative a lot of buildings and significant architectural creations took place in Dhaka. In fact, during the time of his leaving he was offered an “Appreciation Certificate” from the communities of Muslims, Hindus, Armenians and English which unfortunately he could not accept due to not having such permission from the government. Buckland Bund was a new gathering place for the people of Dhaka as the view of the river was an amazing piece of recreation for them. According to the autobiography of Ridoai Nath Mojhumder, 12 steel benches were provided there at first which were not sufficient so 8 more benches were added. The crowd visiting the Buckland Bund at that time proved that it was a very refreshing place and even today after almost 300 years the place is still used as a social gathering place by the local people. The construction of the bund quickly transformed the area into a very posh place and a lot of zamindars started to erect their mansions on and around this bund. The embankment was fortified with stone, and the top laid with bricks. Near Sadarghat, part of the strand was left green, and was later turned into a miniature park with a raised dais where visiting dignitaries could be received on landing from steamers and where a local regimental band played daily in the afternoon for the entertainment of the people. The strand became an attraction to the city and a boon and was used as a promenade overlooking the river with its busy traffic, where people could stroll in the afternoon and evening while enjoying the cool breeze from the river.
Buckland Bund was a very elegant riverfront of Dhaka in the 1900 but the current situation is not something to write about proudly. During the reign of Ayuub Khan, once the rights of the bund was transferred to the government from the public in 1963, the bund’s maintenance and beauty started to deteriorate and the bund that once was Dhaka’s pride and very dear, a place which was used as a source of recreation and entertainment has now lost all its glory and attraction under the government’s responsibility.