A controversial cattle market, set up by the Dhaka North City Corporation at Azampur in the capital’s Uttara area ahead of Eid-ul-Azha this year, has become a nuisance for hundreds of students and teachers of at least 20 educational institutions as well as guardians and local residents.
The makeshift cattle market, which is set up every year by the DNCC centring the Azampur Government Primary School compound and its adjoining areas in Uttara’s Sector 6, has not yet been cleaned up, although educational institutions in the area will reopen tomorrow after the Eid vacation.
“The cattle market on our playground has ruined the atmosphere of the school. Classes will resume on Sunday, but waste has not been removed yet. I am not sure whether it is possible to clean the playground before the classes start,” Nargis Sultana, the headmistress of Azampur Government Primary School, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
She claimed that the city corporation used the playground for the cattle market without taking permission from the school authority.
During his visit, the Dhaka Tribune correspondent yesterday found that the DNCC took no step to clean the playground. Even all makeshift structures and bamboo fences were left unattended on the school compound.
In fact, the playground has turned into a muddy field riddled with numerous potholes. The area is still filled with a strong stench of the decomposing remains of animal waste.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Sultan Ahmed, former headmaster of the school, said the city corporation has been setting up the cattle market on the school premises for last 20 years. “We have tried our best to stop them from setting up the cattle market on the school compound, but we failed,” he added.
When contacted, DNCC Chief Executive Officer BM Enamul Haque said: “We have directed the officials concerned to clean up the area just after
Eid ends. I will look into it and take necessary step to clean the school compound immediately.”
In reply to a question, he claimed that city corporation workers clean the playground every year after Eid. The school authorities were paid for leasing the space, he said.
However, the school authorities denied receiving any payment from the city corporation.
Tofayel Ahmed, a local resident, claimed that the cattle market does not serve the local people much as the city corporation sets up other markets in Sectors 10 and 11.
Sources said a syndicate of influential Awami League leaders forced the city corporation authorities to lease the school compound for the cattle market.
The DNCC told the school authorities and the Dhaka Tribune last year that the cattle market would be set up elsewhere this year, considering the annoyance to students, pedestrians and locals. However, they failed to do so.
Not only Azampur school, the DNCC also leased another controversial cattle market in city’s Agargaon area, causing immense sufferings to patients of 10 hospitals.
Earlier, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim came down heavily on the high officials of the DNCC for giving lease of cattle markets around three hospitals at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital.
“The DNCC administrator made a criminal offence by approving a cattle market near the hospitals,” he said and urged the LGRD Ministry to take action against the DNCC administrator.
