AN English daily reported that the urban planners spoke at a ‘study based conference’ they said that they would draft a 10-point action plan in six weeks, publish it as a book in an year and give it to the government for execution by a powerful authority. They asked the government to create the powerful authority having the say overall the existing service providers. There was a common agreement that after being infamously named the most unlivable city in the world for a number of years, Dhaka needs a complete makeover in terms of planning and implementation. In order to achieve that, a strong social movement is the only way the government will feel obliged to make effective improvements to the capital in a planned manner which will in turn make it a more livable place for its current inhabitants and future generations. The conference was organised by Bangladesh Institute of Planners and Centre for Development Communication on Saturday in the city. Reports also state that they announced a year-long schedule under the title ‘Dhaka for future generations: What needs to be done,’ to discuss the draft plan of action plan and its publication as a book. National dailies also report that the experts claimed that if the authorities refuse to accept the action plan, a social movement will be launched with the participation of people from all walks of life to mount pressure to accept it. The authorities that even failed to draw up the capital city’s boundary as Article 5(2) of the Constitution requires could not be expected to take a comprehensive action plan for its development, said a prominent planning expert.Renowned journalists and architects present at the conference also discussed how the action plan contained information on urbanization and urban planning, population and housing, transportation and mobility, utility services, good governance, public spaces and open spaces, disaster management and city resilience, economy and investment, urban environment management and historic Dhaka’s culture and heritage. There is a universal agreement that the ‘Unlivable Dhaka’ should be made a ‘livable one’ through joint efforts and exercises of all concerned – the government, the civil bodies and the common citizens. But there seems to be no authority to bother about Dhaka’s unmanaged chaos and piling filth to make the capital of the country livable and easily movable. The question is why the people should bear the burden of the employees who have no ability or vision to make Dhaka a worthy capital? What is happening is a race for corruption and nobody has to prove his or her worth.
