The people of Kishoreganj municipality have been suffering for a long time due to serious environmental pollution as the municipal authorities cannot clean the town regularly in the absence of necessary manpower and equipment.
According to sources, the dustbins along the roadsides of the town are full of garbage as the townspeople dump their waste in and around the dustbins.
As a result, most of the streets are littered with garbage which is polluting the town.
Tanvir Hyder, a resident of Karampatty area of the town, alleged: “The cleaners come here sometimes to take away the rubbish from the local dustbins which is not sufficient to keep the town clean.”
The people and students cannot move along the roads as the decomposed organic materials emit awfully bad odours, making it difficult to breathe in the air.
The townspeople expressed their concerns over the unscientific and improper management of municipal solid waste, describing it as hazardous to human health.
They have complained of stench and health hazards due to the garbage accumulated here and there in the town. They demand a clean town.
Sharif Sadi, convener of Paribesh Rakkha Mancha, said: “The garbage dumped along the roadside is now making its way onto the road, creating a stink and having other hazardous effects.”
“The town has given birth to many versatile and prolific persons including Esha Kha [the leader of the Baro Bhuiyans], poet Chandraboti and Satyajit Ray. So the town can be turned into a tourist spot if the authorities take the right steps,” he said.
The district unit Bangladesh Manobadhikar Nattaya Porishod President Harun-Al-Rashid said: “Although Kishoreganj has been a municipality for many years, there is no specific dumping station for garbage and the workers of its cleaning department dump the garbage at roadside pools.”
When contacted, municipality mayor Mazharul Islam Bhuiyan Kanchan admitted the citizens suffering and said: “We have a lack of cleaners to keep the town hygienic for its citizens. It is not sufficient to serve the needs of around 1lakh people of the town.”
“We need some more cleaners if we want to keep the town clean. But the municipality does not have adequate funds to recruit more staffers,” he said.
The mayor said that they had only three trucks and around 35 trolleys, which are inadequate to work through the nine wards of the town.
He added that he sent a proposal to the ministry concerned seeking allocation of funds to purchase the necessary equipment. Several cultural organisations staged various programmes.
