DAY after day we hear about odd (and sometimes harmful) antics by the government where their role as the nation’s ruling body falls under intense scrutiny. One of those issues have just been brought to notice thanks to RAJUK’s inability to assist Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) in the disposal of thousands of tonnes of the city’s garbage. Before one misunderstands, the role of RAJUK in all this was to allot and handover land where waste management and disposal could be carried out properly.
For the past 3 and half years, DNCC have not been able to establish a functioning waste disposal facility and thanks to the inefficiency by RAJUK, it seems as though none will be established at least for the next year. RAJUK has yet again failed to handover necessary land to DNCC which were meant to be used to dispose of waste. It is of no surprise that due to this, the health and well-being of millions of city dwellers have already been adversely affected and due to the continuing delay, DNCC will keep on discarding unmanageable waste on the roads this vicious cycle will go on being the case. Experts have alleged that due to the waste disposal on roads, public health and the environment are endangered and even though DNCC have been allotted 37 bighas of land in the greater Gulshan area by RAJUK, they are yet to be handed over to DNCC. According to the experts, the land allocation occurred after extensive lobbying for 2 years but actual possession of the necessary lands are yet to take place. To add to the misery, the DNCC are suffering from an acute manpower shortage due to which an effective waste management and disposal system cannot be implemented. The DNCC are resorting to placing waste containers on the city roads due to obvious lack of space. The two Dhaka City Corporations (DCCs) are responsible for collecting and disposing of 5,000-6,000 tonnes of solid waste from the city’s 90 wards everyday. Due to the lack of a proper disposal system, a large percentage of people are also contributing to the mess by disposing waste on roads, drains, ponds, lakes and other open spaces which is causing a significant risk for public health and serious environmental pollution.
Many have argued that only 2% of the DCC’s budget is allotted for waste management and that is not even near enough for what is actually required. But that does not take focus away from the lack of dependability on RAJUK caused by its inadequate efforts in handing over the necessary land. This level of inefficiency is highly unprofessional (not to mention uncalled for) and poses a serious danger to public health. The government must ensure such incompetent practices are not tolerated and necessary efforts are made and promises fulfilled.
