A walk past the streets and roads in the capital’s Dholaikhal area might make one wonder what could possibly be the authorities concerned doing.
Breaching of all kinds of citizen regulations and the utter negligence of the authorities in the area in downtown Dhaka have featured time and time again in the media.
But the authorities concerned the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to be specific have hardly ever paid any attention.
The erstwhile Dhaka City Corporation, which was in charge of looking after the city before being split into two for providing better services, was hardly ever reported to have shown much action to remedy the illegal practices.
Over the years, a soft iron industry has developed in the Hazi Abdul Mozid Lane and the Hrishikesh Das Lane in Dholaikhal. Many of the soft iron workshops, which do not have adequate spaces inside, have picked up the pavements and the adjacent road to work on the big iron sheets.
Vehicle workshops and gas cylinder traders are also playing their roles in converting the walkways and the roads into their own yards.
Since Dholaikhal is an industrial area, hundreds of trucks and pickups come in and go out of it every day. Neither is there any parking space in the area, nor are they allowed to ply the city roads after 8am and before 8pm. As a result, the drivers of these trucks and pickups have no options but to park their vehicles on the roadsides for the day.
During a recent visit to the area, this correspondent has found that the authority is not far behind in robbing the commuters of their right to traverse a free road. A waste disposal container of DSCC could be found lying in the middle of a footpath and also occupying a part of the adjacent road.
Dholaikhal residents have alleged that local businessmen have been carrying on with their businesses by encroaching upon the walkways and the roads for years. The authorities never tell them anything because most of them have strong political backings.
Hamidul, a resident of Dholaikhal, said: “Due to these illegal practices by the irresponsible traders, pedestrians and vehicles cannot move freely, leading to never-ending traffic congestion in the area.”
When asked, the soft iron traders declined to say anything about encroaching the footpaths and the road.
DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md Ansar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “We often conduct drives to evict illegal structures in city area. But after the raids are completed, grabbers return and occupy the footpath and road again.”
Ansar Ali added that local people should also protest against the grabbers’ illegal practices. Captain SM Javed Iqbal, chief waste management officer of DSCC, said he did not know that a waste disposal container was lying open in the middle of the road in Dholaikhal.
“May be the cleaners put the container in the middle of the road. We will immediately take steps to remove the container, if we still find it in the area that you have mentioned,” he said.