The Local Government Division (LGD) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have decided to relocate two city cattle markets next year.
The decision comes in the wake of criticism from Health Minister Mohammed Nasim and complaints from locals of both the areas about cattle markets in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar-Agargaon area and Azampur school ground in Uttara.
LGD and DNCC officials said they would find new locations to relocate the markets.
“Next year, both the markets will certainly be set up elsewhere. If we cannot find alternative locations, we will shut the markets,” LGD Joint Secretary Ashoke Madhab Roy told the Dhaka Tribune.
Every year, the two markets are organised by the city corporation but the Health Ministry before this Eid-ul-Azha wrote to the LGD to close the market in Agargaon considering the misery of patients of three nearby hospitals. SM Jahid, organising secretary of Jubo League central committee, was awarded the lease for the market.
On October 8, the health minister came down heavily on DNCC officials for not complying with the order in the letter. He termed the DNCC administrator a criminal and urged the LGRD Ministry to take action against him.
“If the cattle market in Agargaon is not relocated next year, I will seek the prime minister’s intervention,” he said.
DNCC Administrator Md Faruque Jalil and Chief Estate Officer Aminul Islam, however, said they received no letter from the ministry.
“We also heard a letter was sent to the LGRD Ministry but the ministry did not forward it to us,” said Aminul.
LGD sources said officials were unable to act on the Health Ministry’s letter as it was sent at a time when the market was almost fully organised.
“We could not act according to the letter as it came at the eleventh hour and we had no alternative location to set up the market,” the LGD joint secretary said.
Meanwhile, the other cattle market set up by the DNCC in Azampur Government Primary School compound caused much nuisance among local residents and students of at least 20 educational institutions.
Afsar Uddin Khan, organising secretary of Awami League’s Uttara thana unit, was awarded the lease for the market while Jubo League leader Mahbubur Rahman got it last year.
“The cattle market has ruined the environment of the school. Classes will resume on Sunday, but the wastes have not been removed yet. I am not sure whether it is possible to clean the playground before classes start,” the school’s headmistress Nargis Sultana told the Dhaka Tribune.
In 2013, DNCC former chief estate officer Md Fasiullah said they were planning to relocate the Agargaon, Azampur and Taltola markets next year. However, only the Taltola market was set up in a new location.
