Waste disposal in Narayanganj city has been a long-standing issue, with locals always complaining about having to live in a smelly mess. In the city, night progresses with the worst bed smell. Despite Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) being responsible for keeping the city clean and livable, the authorities dump all household and medical waste into a landfill, making the city dwellers’ life unbearable.
Unhealthy bad smells and flies are all part of city life for the dump station nearby. The citizens are in constant fear of raising their voices against the agony provided by the city authorities. Not only do many have to live in a garbage-infested neighborhood, allegations of charging more than the fees, set by the city corporation, for garbage collection have also surfaced.
The second term mayor Selina Hayat Ivy has promised a speedy resolution to the problem through the implementation of a waste-to-energy project. Over the years, the city authorities changed the dumping ground and provided the experience to a wider area of residents. Once the municipality used to dump waste in Panchaboti area, when a park was built there, the authorities started using Jallar Par area and now Al Amin Nagar has become an unofficial waste disposal facility.
The medical waste dumped in Matuail is collected under the supervision of Aid Bangladesh and Prism Bangladesh. The NCC is setting up permanent garbage ground under a development project in the Bandar area. It also signed a deal with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to recycle 600 tons of waste every day to produce 6 megawatts of electricity. The biodegradable waste will be separated and put in a pit where the decomposed liquid will be collected. The liquid will be processed at 1,100 degrees Celsius to produce electricity.
Proper waste management is not only a challenge for Narayanganj alone, but rather a common problem for all major cities and municipalities. The government should impose rules applicable to all city corporations and municipalities to introduce modern waste disposal systems and make the human settlements livable.
