bdnews24.com :
Traffic jam, illegal occupation of walkways and cleanliness are major issues in the city corporation elections in Chittagong, known as the commercial capital of Bangladesh.
But waterlogging is top of the agenda, voters say.
The matter became a top electoral issue during the last 2010 city polls, when the city was waterlogged after three days of torrential rain.
Many blame inability to tackle the problem and lack of initiative to solve it is overshadowing other issues.
Sharif Chouhan, chief of an environmental movement organisation, recalled that cleanliness was the key issue in the 2005 polls.
But severe waterlogging in 2007 and 2008 brought it to limelight in the next city polls in Chittagong in 2010.
He claimed the public representatives had a tendency to overlook the matter-and that aggravated it.
“Issues like minimum cleanliness, keeping the footpaths free or controlling traffic snarls have never been addressed,” Chouhan told bdnews24.com.
“Anyone who saw a clean Chittagong a decade ago will resent its current state.”
Delowar Majumder, an engineer, believes the elected public representatives are “incapable of tackling the problems and lack the desire and ability to solve them”.
“They just do the routine work,” the former Chittagong Engineers Institute president told bdnews24.com. “Waterlogging, a solvable problem, has become acute due to their indifference.”
He says the matter is overshadowing other issues like traffic jam and illegal occupation of walkways.
“We want a clean liveable city free of traffic congestion and waterlogging,” he said.
Controlling waterlogging was one of former mayor M Manjur Alam’s electoral pledges. But after five years in office, he said, the problem cannot be solved by merely digging canals.
The government allocated Tk 3 billion last year to dig a new canal in the city.
BNP-endorsed candidate Alam, who defeated Awami League-backed ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury in 2010, claimed he had met fulfilled much of his electoral promises.
But Awami League-supported aspirant AJM Nasir Uddin claimed former Chittagong mayors had “failed to utilise the opportunities”.
Traffic jam, illegal occupation of walkways and cleanliness are major issues in the city corporation elections in Chittagong, known as the commercial capital of Bangladesh.
But waterlogging is top of the agenda, voters say.
The matter became a top electoral issue during the last 2010 city polls, when the city was waterlogged after three days of torrential rain.
Many blame inability to tackle the problem and lack of initiative to solve it is overshadowing other issues.
Sharif Chouhan, chief of an environmental movement organisation, recalled that cleanliness was the key issue in the 2005 polls.
But severe waterlogging in 2007 and 2008 brought it to limelight in the next city polls in Chittagong in 2010.
He claimed the public representatives had a tendency to overlook the matter-and that aggravated it.
“Issues like minimum cleanliness, keeping the footpaths free or controlling traffic snarls have never been addressed,” Chouhan told bdnews24.com.
“Anyone who saw a clean Chittagong a decade ago will resent its current state.”
Delowar Majumder, an engineer, believes the elected public representatives are “incapable of tackling the problems and lack the desire and ability to solve them”.
“They just do the routine work,” the former Chittagong Engineers Institute president told bdnews24.com. “Waterlogging, a solvable problem, has become acute due to their indifference.”
He says the matter is overshadowing other issues like traffic jam and illegal occupation of walkways.
“We want a clean liveable city free of traffic congestion and waterlogging,” he said.
Controlling waterlogging was one of former mayor M Manjur Alam’s electoral pledges. But after five years in office, he said, the problem cannot be solved by merely digging canals.
The government allocated Tk 3 billion last year to dig a new canal in the city.
BNP-endorsed candidate Alam, who defeated Awami League-backed ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury in 2010, claimed he had met fulfilled much of his electoral promises.
But Awami League-supported aspirant AJM Nasir Uddin claimed former Chittagong mayors had “failed to utilise the opportunities”.
