With Eid-ul-Azha about a week away, Dhaka is soon going to witness thousands of domestic animals being sacrificed in the name of the Almighty.
While the religious duty is performed with much celebration and enthusiasm, it is disappointing that it often comes at the cost of a clean environment and the wellbeing of the general public as the mass slaughter of animals in a city as densely populated as Dhaka almost always means that the streets are awash with blood and discarded viscera.
Given the abject state of our sewerage and drainage infrastructure, every year the situation threatens to turn into a veritable public health disaster. In most Muslim nations, the sacrifice of animals on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha is carried out in designated spots in cities, however, while Dhaka did have such a provision starting around 2015, around two years ago the city corporations seemingly put an end to the arrangements citing a general lack of interest from the wider public.
If true, it is indeed disappointing that those sacrificing animals would see it fit to do so in public spaces instead of opting for the more sanitary option of the government-issued spots. However, the city corporations themselves have a responsibility to make the public aware of these spaces to begin with as it is well within the realm of reason to think that most people simply weren't aware that such a provision existed in the first place.
Given the absolute disaster that was last year’s dengue epidemic, irresponsible slaughtering and inefficient waste management could absolutely pave the way for the disease to wreak havoc on citizens this year as well.
