A REPORT in The New Nation on Saturday said Dhaka city and other townships in the country have become essentially unlivable in unhealthy environment. The report mentioned the fact that continuous pressure due to migration from the countryside to towns —mostly for economic reasons has made the capital critically unlivable and had turned it into a concrete jungle.
But all of the problems are essentially solvable if proper steps can be taken. Dhaka city does not have to be one big uniformly ugly city. Proper planning can make it livable. But it must ensure roads are of adequate size, public transportation is uniformly affordable and decent and parks and other places for entertainment to families all available for breathing. We must say all of these do exist, but in a marginal way-not enough to satisfy the need of all of the inhabitants living in the city. It is paradoxical, the Dhaka city is most densely populated now-the southern parts (essentially Old Dhaka), has the least number of public facilities which can be enjoyed by the average citizen. If one is lucky to live in the Northern part, then most facilities exist in sufficient numbers there for most citizens to take advantage. Moreover the number of slums is only making it the den of crimes and homes of unhealthy people.
The question is, will the city ever develop in a planned manner-with the filling of wetlands and a stop to violations of building codes which allow haphazard and poorly constructed buildings to be made. But it seems unlikely. As long as someone can be bribed, almost anything can be overlooked, and regulations remain essentially on official paper. Even Supreme Court verdicts regarding the protection of Wetlands remain ignored. Meanwhile some developers are in a hurry to complete construction work and increase cash revenue without ensuring that buildings have proper materials or are made according to safety codes and regulations.
Geographers plan the formation of a city from what was essentially an eopolis (village) to a polis (city) and so on until it becomes a megapolis (very big city). Dhaka city has passed the megapolis stage sometime ago and is now essentially a tyrannopolis (a city which dictates to its inhabitants as to how they should live). Now what is left is that we must ensure it does not become a necropolis (a city of the dead-inhabited only by ghosts and other disembodied entities). If its urbanization process continues at the current rates and further accelerates, the levels of pollution, chaotic urbanization, depleting groundwater levels, haphazard building construction, all will essentially contribute to make it a deadly city. Moreover the concrete jungle may be growing quickly as a death trap from calamities like earthquake and we can only suggest that our city planners must take notice of these threats, make laws and properly execute them before things are going beyond any scope of correction.
