ALLEGATIONS have been raised against the concerned departments of two City Corporations for unjustly collecting excess garbage bill from the city residents. The maximum garbage bill for per flat has been fixed Tk 100, but much more is being collected. Although the garbage collectors collect Tk 612 crore a year, the North City Corporation does not get any revenue from it and South City Corporation gets TK 9 crore only. There is no alternative to multi-sectoral and standard waste management in urban areas for making the city liveable, but the city authorities have very limited capacity to sustainably collect, recycle and dump the waste.
Waste collectors collect garbage from the residence and deposit it to the secondary transfer station and then it pours into the landfill without recycling or treatment. Dhaka’s solid waste management system has seen no major improvement in the past few years despite various initiatives taken by the two City Corporations. All city mayors pledged to turn the city into a clean, green, liveable, digital and smart metropolis, but the dream is still unreached.
Generally, DNCC and DSCC dispose of solid wastes at two landfills in Aminbazar and Matuail. They are unable to process solid waste properly even after applying the traditional landfill method. Both City Corporations have taken initiatives in collaboration with international donor agencies and the Local Government Division to process solid waste using modern methods. The steps include urban public and environmental health development projects, community-based waste management activities, development of sanitary landfill, medical waste recycling plant and waste-based power plant. Dhaka ranked as the fourth least liveable city among 140 cities in last year’s Global Liveability Ranking.
Dhaka, a megacity of 180 million people, produces 4,700 tonnes of solid waste every day. Unfortunately, to manage this massive amount of waste, the country depends mostly on unskilled women and children. While Bangladesh is taking leaps in human development indices, this stark instance of widespread human rights violation will definitely taint our nation’s image. The government needs to establish separate waste management directorate, trained professionals, safety materials for waste collectors, waste-recycle based enterprises, affluent treatment plant.
