Traffic and pedestrian movement on a section of the capital’s Paribagh area had been impeded for long as a lane of the main road had become a regular waste dumping station of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
As several DSCC garbage containers had been kept on one side of the two-way Paribagh road, which connects the Shahbagh road and Paribagh intersection, the thoroughfare frequently becomes victim to traffic congestion.
Locals, pedestrians and drivers allegedly said the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) waste management department had been dumping wastes and kept its heavy garbage disposal containers and waste caring vans in such a manner on the road that the road and its footpath had become unusable to the public.
Paribagh residents also said the wastes being kept on the road fills the entire area with a terrible stench and expressed concerns over the health hazards which might arise from such unhygienic disposal system.
“Wastes and the garbage disposal containers kept on the main road often lead to traffic congestions in the area,” Nasrin Akter, a local resident.
“The city corporation must remove the garbage and its containers before it becomes a health risk for residents of this area,” she added.
Saidul Islam, another resident of the area, suggested the DSCC should relocate the dumpsters to somewhere else.
Contacted, DSCC Chief Waste Management Officer Captain SM Javed Iqbal told the Dhaka Tribune: “If the road and footpath of the Paribagh were being blocked by these wastes, then we would take measures to free it.”
Meanwhile, the two city corporations of Dhaka continue to dump wastes on portions of most of the roads.
Although the DSCC and DNCC took various steps in collaboration with ADB, JICA and LGD to relieve the city people of malodorous smells, there was no significant effect as the waste disposal management systems of the two city corporations remain in an awful state.
The two city corporations already launched urban public and environmental health development projects, community-based waste management activities, development of sanitary landfill to manage the city’s waste.
However, both the city corporations blame the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) saying that its unplanned urbanisation had put a bar on implementing an effective waste management infrastructure.
DNCC Chief Waste Management Officer Captain Bipon Kumar Saha told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are forced to place waste containers on the city roads due to lack of space due to the unplanned urbanisation.”
He also said a special project, namely secondary transformation station, had been adopted to ensure routine collection of household wastes from different wards and accumulating the wastes at a specific point for safe disposal.
“A project, namely secondary transformation station, has already been introduced in a number of wards in DNCC and it would take two to three years to complete,” he added.