bdnews24.com :
There seems to be no end to the suffering of those living in Dhaka’s Jigatala and Hazaribagh neighbourhoods, while the resident of adjacent Dhanmondi live a trouble-free life.
A few minutes into the Jigatala Road reveals broken streets and dilapidated alleys. An hour’s downpour inundates the roads with knee-high water. Moving further, one almost suffocates due to an obnoxious stink from tannery wastes and overflowing sewers. The road to Hazaribagh and Lalbagh from Jigatala was dug up two years ago to repair the WASA pipeline.
The brick-and-cement road never got a fresh layer of asphalt, resulting in potholes here and there. A visit from Jigatala to Hazaribagh on Monday exposed the area’s deplorable condition.
Just 200 yards into the Jigatala Road, from the main Dhanmondi thoroughfare up to the glass factory area, showed the conditions were uniformly bad.
Enayat Ullah, a tea vendor with a stall by the roadside, told bdnews24.com even a light shower results in the accumulation of muddy water in various places. “A heavy shower makes the situation worse. Filthy water from the canal on both sides of the road mixes with the mud on the road.”
Besides Hazaribagh, the road leads to Dhalchar, Kamrangirchar, Companyghat, Lalbagh, Tally Office and Tannery Crossing, inhabited mostly by low-income people.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters use the road to travel by rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and human haulers. Leather and shoe industry heavy vehicles also ply.
CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Maidul Hasan Milon said he suffered a lot while making trips on the rundown road, which also touches the Sher-e-Bangla Road of South Hazaribagh.
The tanneries lie along a 2.5-km stretch from the Sher-e-Bangla Road to Thana Road via Tannery Mor. The area is littered with tannery waste, covered with sewerage muck and thick mud, while the air is heavy with stench.
Residents of the locality and the Hazaribagh police hold the tannery industries responsible for people’s owes. The tannery owners, on the other, hand blame the conservancy staff.
“People keep their cows in a far better place than that we are living in,” Sher-e-Bangla Road’s Miraz Hossain, 55, said. He said he had seen the situation remain unchanged from his childhood. A private company worker Ayeshe Siddiqua said, “I have to cover my nose when going out in the morning. I do the same when I return to the area.”
Hazaribagh Police Station OC Kazi Mainul Islam said environmental pollution was the area’s main problem.
The tanneries are chiefly responsible for it, he added.
“The situation improved in last year,” he claimed.
Contacted, Hazaribagh’s Sonali Tannery owner Md Shakir Hossain said, “Everyone blames us. But nobody says that the sweepers do not clean the drains.” He added, “We are, in fact, held hostage by them.” He said there were more than 350 tanneries at Hazaribagh.
A process to relocate them has been under way for the last 26 years, while a High Court order to shift them issued in 2001. Five Star Tannery owner Golam Mostafa said, “The relocation to Savar is being processed. We will move once we get government clearance.”
There seems to be no end to the suffering of those living in Dhaka’s Jigatala and Hazaribagh neighbourhoods, while the resident of adjacent Dhanmondi live a trouble-free life.
A few minutes into the Jigatala Road reveals broken streets and dilapidated alleys. An hour’s downpour inundates the roads with knee-high water. Moving further, one almost suffocates due to an obnoxious stink from tannery wastes and overflowing sewers. The road to Hazaribagh and Lalbagh from Jigatala was dug up two years ago to repair the WASA pipeline.
The brick-and-cement road never got a fresh layer of asphalt, resulting in potholes here and there. A visit from Jigatala to Hazaribagh on Monday exposed the area’s deplorable condition.
Just 200 yards into the Jigatala Road, from the main Dhanmondi thoroughfare up to the glass factory area, showed the conditions were uniformly bad.
Enayat Ullah, a tea vendor with a stall by the roadside, told bdnews24.com even a light shower results in the accumulation of muddy water in various places. “A heavy shower makes the situation worse. Filthy water from the canal on both sides of the road mixes with the mud on the road.”
Besides Hazaribagh, the road leads to Dhalchar, Kamrangirchar, Companyghat, Lalbagh, Tally Office and Tannery Crossing, inhabited mostly by low-income people.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters use the road to travel by rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and human haulers. Leather and shoe industry heavy vehicles also ply.
CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Maidul Hasan Milon said he suffered a lot while making trips on the rundown road, which also touches the Sher-e-Bangla Road of South Hazaribagh.
The tanneries lie along a 2.5-km stretch from the Sher-e-Bangla Road to Thana Road via Tannery Mor. The area is littered with tannery waste, covered with sewerage muck and thick mud, while the air is heavy with stench.
Residents of the locality and the Hazaribagh police hold the tannery industries responsible for people’s owes. The tannery owners, on the other, hand blame the conservancy staff.
“People keep their cows in a far better place than that we are living in,” Sher-e-Bangla Road’s Miraz Hossain, 55, said. He said he had seen the situation remain unchanged from his childhood. A private company worker Ayeshe Siddiqua said, “I have to cover my nose when going out in the morning. I do the same when I return to the area.”
Hazaribagh Police Station OC Kazi Mainul Islam said environmental pollution was the area’s main problem.
The tanneries are chiefly responsible for it, he added.
“The situation improved in last year,” he claimed.
Contacted, Hazaribagh’s Sonali Tannery owner Md Shakir Hossain said, “Everyone blames us. But nobody says that the sweepers do not clean the drains.” He added, “We are, in fact, held hostage by them.” He said there were more than 350 tanneries at Hazaribagh.
A process to relocate them has been under way for the last 26 years, while a High Court order to shift them issued in 2001. Five Star Tannery owner Golam Mostafa said, “The relocation to Savar is being processed. We will move once we get government clearance.”
