Residents of Rangpur city have been suffering immensely as Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) allegedly started dumping garbage and culled animals in front of a high-rise commercial building.
The residents have complained that three banks, several restaurants, commercial offices, shops and a community centre, housed at the high-rise building “Shah Bari Tower” was badly affected after the RCC authorities took the unwanted move.
“I came to pay my electricity bills at a bank in the building, but I could not enter as garbage was piled up there,” Aziz Munshi, a resident, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“If there is a problem, it should be solved internally,” he added while urging the mayor to clear the wastes from in front the building.
“The High Court has given a stay order on the ‘Upgrading of RHD Roads of Rangpur Divisional Sadar to 4 (Four) Lane Project’ following my writ petition for which the mayor has been dumping the waste in front of my building intentionally,” the building’s owner Mohibul Islam Jiju claimed.
The work of the construction of the four-lane road started two years back, and roads and highways department started acquisition lands from Paira Chattar to Shapla Bridge for the project. We found the land acquisition processes to be faulty and filed four writ petitions with the High Court on 2012 and 2013. Later, the court has stayed the construction work at the area until the hearings of the two writs were announced, he added.
“Violating the order, a vested quarter, in the name of Citizens’ Society has announced eviction of the shops at my building using loudspeakers on March 10 and 11, and on March 11, the city corporation mayor gave us a notice of 15 days for the eviction,” he claimed.
Jiju alleged that following the mayor’s instruction, City Corporation had been dumping the wastes in front of his building.
Rangpur citizen Abdur Rashid Babu said demolishing the building was important for the development of the city, but dumping waste in front of the building can never be justified.
When contacted, RCC Mayor Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu said he has not instructed dumping of the wastes there.
“As part of the protest, locals are dumping waste there for the sake of development of the city,” the mayor said.