The waste management departments of the two city corporations of Dhaka falters as they fails to provide waste management service for the city people properly.
The waste disposal systems of the city corporations lie in awful state, thereby being unable to relieve the city dwellers of pungent smells from the roadside waste and garbage cans.
Although Dhaka North and South City Corporations took various steps in collaboration with ADB, JICA and LGD to relieve the city people of toxic smells, there was no significant effect.
The two city corporations launched urban public and environmental health development projects, community-based waste management activities, development of sanitary landfill and medical waste recycling plant and waste-based power plant to manage the city’s solid, liquid and medical waste, but all projects were running at a snail’s pace.
A probe into different areas under the two city corporations found that most walkways in the city had waste on them.
Besides, traffic and pedestrians’ movement on the sidewalks gets impeded because of the city corporations’ dustbins and waste disposal containers placed here and there on the roads.
The situation is at its worst during rainy season when rubbish litter the roads outside dustbins and get washed away across the streets.
The city corporations’ solid waste management rules stipulate that local bodies should organise house-to-house collection of solid waste through community cleaners regularly.
The rules also call for collection of waste from slums, squatter areas, hotels, restaurants, office complexes, and commercial zones.
As per the rules, waste from kitchen markets, slaughterhouses, fruits and vegetables markets that are biodegradable should be managed scientifically.
Several thousand permanent and temporary staff members and road sweepers on the rolls of two city corporations are alleged to be not doing their jobs properly.
A visit to different areas in the city including kitchen markets revealed that the road sweepers sweep only a few roads in posh and VIP areas and the cleaners do not collect waste regularly from all places.
Most garbage disposal bins are placed either on the city’s busy roads or on different inter-connecting roads or in front of public parks, playgrounds, open spaces and educational institutions.
Preferring anonymity, a few cleaners of both city corporations in different city areas said they were scheduled to collect waste in the morning, but they came in the afternoon because of lack of workforce.
Residents of both city corporations alleged that measures had yet to be taken to fix the garbage management and drainage system by the authorities concerned.
Contacted, the city corporations’ authorities, however, laid blame on Rajuk and unplanned urbanisation.
Captain Bipon Kumar Saha, chief waste management officer, Dhaka North City Corporation, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are forced to place waste containers on the city roads due to lack of space for unplanned urbanisation.”
He said they had already discussed the problem with Rajuk to select a specific area to dump the garbage.
“A project namely secondary transformation station has already been introduced to a number of wards in DNCC and it would take two to three years to complete,” said Bipon.
Captain SM Javed Iqbal, Dhaka South City Corporation chief waste management officer, echoed the same.
He said: “The urban public and environmental health development project will give Dhaka a better look. I hope after completion of the project, people of the capital would be able to live free from the filth of open roadside dustbins.”