Several mayors and administrators of city corporations and municipalities have opined that slum dwellers and homeless people as well as hawkers in footpaths should be relocated by formulating a well-planned rehabilitation program.
The speakers came up with the remarks at a webinar titled “Poor-friendly climate and disaster tolerant urban development: Problems and possibilities” arranged by Brac on Thursday.
Khorshed Alam Sujon, administrator of the Chittagong City Corporation said: “I do not want to evict the hawkers before adopting a proper rehabilitation program. But now they are running their business on the footpaths to feed their families.”
“We have initiated a program to keep them in one place by marking a line on the footpaths so they would not block the walkway of general people. We want to register them under the city-corporation to limit their numbers. They will be allowed to sit between 3pm and 8pm everyday with their small carts.”
Echoing the same, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam said he was not in support of eradicating hawkers without rehabilitation. He also opposed displacing slum people without ensuring proper relocation.
“The number of urban poor is increasing day by day especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. We do not want to make their life more difficult by snatching away their place to live and do business,” the DNCC mayor said.
“We need a permanent solution to rehabilitate the destitute as well as raise awareness,” he added.
As part of a pilot project in the Mirpur area, there are some volunteers working in an area of 400X400 yard on several social issues, which is working, Atiqul said.
“Mass people’s participation is very much expected, that’s what they need. If people find any abnormalities in the duties of city-corporation, they need to notify our volunteers and we will take prompt action. I will provide auxiliary support but the people need to monitor,” he remarked.
Faridpur Municipality Mayor Shaikh Mahtab Ali Methu said: “Our goal of development and proper urbanization will not be fulfilled if we only train the youth without making arrangements for their employment.”
While addressing the program as the chief guest, Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Md Tajul Islam said: “Residential and commercial facilities are growing with vertical extensions only, without leaving space for transportation.”
The minister remarked that they need to expand Dhaka to cope with the growing population.
While presenting a paper on “Urban governance and social protection”, Dr Imran Matin of Brac’s Institute of Governance and Development said urban poverty decline is stalling.
He said: “If we do not take the measures correctly, it will stall more. The urban share of the social safety net is low as well.”
“The urban population has been growing massively since 1990, where the population is going to be divided equally between rural people and urban people in 2040,” Imran predicted.
While presenting the keynote presentation, Prof Akter Mahmud, president of Bangladesh Institute of Planners made a 10-point recommendation for poor-friendly urban development.
He recommended ensuring social justice, inclusion of facilities in the urban plan as per the demands of children, safety of females, and the differently abled community.
Ensuring accommodation policies, inclusion in economic activities, ensuring municipality ward-based services, transportation plans for the urban poor, further recommended Prof Akter.
Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac said resilience is necessary after implementing all plans as the urban poor community will need stability after facing problems like climate change or other social disasters.
The virtual program was moderated by Dr Ainun Nishat, professor emeritus of Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research at Brac University.
Mayors of Gaibandha, Saidpur, Satkhira, and Savar municipalities as well as Sylhet, Comilla, Rangpur, and Khulna city-corporations attended the program, among others.
