I grew up inside an educational campus surrounded by dense villages throughout the 70s till the mid-80s. In that era, the seasons arrived in our country on time and our lives were steered by the strength of nature’s various expressions. In summer, we never lamented the heat, and in winter, we never cursed the cold. Our parents never worried about our whereabouts since there wasn’t any fear of getting struck by any motorised vehicle. Their only worry was that we might catch colds while getting wet in the rain, or roaming around in dense fog.
By the time we completed our teenage chores, the thought, as well as the need, for living in a town emerged in our minds. There was no way we could live in that setting. It was time to move on. The first thought that popped up in our minds, in the early 80s was to get ourselves admitted to either BUET, Dhaka Medical College, or Dhaka University. Going to educational institutions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, or Khulna was a remote option for us.
So, most of us made our way to Dhaka. Some, of course, left the country. At that time, Dhaka was still a small tranquil town with huge greenery, empty space, undeveloped plots, clean rivers, and massive wetlands. Apart from its historical importance as well as being the capital of the country, Dhaka was picking up some outwardly glamourous aspects that many cities of the world have. Dhaka aspired to become a city much like the ones that we admire.
We began to light our streets with sodium bulbs, we constructed a few roads, we started developing residential and commercial buildings. We also aspired to build skyscrapers. The city development authority had a lot on its plate to accomplish.
What we see now is the work of three decades. In three decades of constant development, we got a city that we never dreamt of. Our city was recently ranked the world’s second-least liveable city. We are only after Syria’s Damascus. According to a recent study, nearly one-third of our open spaces, which is much lower compared to the population density, has been illegally occupied by vested quarters, including influential individuals in their localities and owners of various modes of transportation.
We have again been listed among one of the most polluted cities of the world. According to the latest air pollution monitoring report of World Health Organisation (WHO), now, Dhaka is the fourth most polluted city of the world among 90 cities. Another study said four major rivers near Dhaka – the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Turag, and Balu – receive 1.5 million cubic metres of waste water every day from 7,000 industrial units in surrounding areas and another 0.5 million cubic metres from other sources.
Unabated encroachment that prevents the free flow of water, dumping of medicinal waste, and waste of river passengers have compounded the problem, making the water unusable for humans and livestock.
After all these years, I wonder about what actually prompted us to commit the wrongs that ultimately destroyed our capital city. There’s only one conclusion that I can draw which is that our collective greed has led to this state of the affairs. Greed is a normal human phenomenon, but we’ve displayed the ugliest sides of human greed in the name of development.
We haven’t followed the basics for building a city, and that too for the capital city. As far as I know (I may be wrong), we had at least six master plans since the colonial times: In 1917, 1956, 1960, 1991, 1997, and finally in 2005. So, it’s been almost a century that we’ve been trying to build Dhaka.
Sometimes, I see some Dhaka-lovers celebrate 400 years of Dhaka’s existence. I wonder what’s there to celebrate. The city that had all the (real) possibilities to become an echelon of beauty is now choking for life. All its roads and lanes look out of order with a huge amount of garbage on the sides. Sometimes gooey substances are seen flowing on the streets due to our inadequate sewage system. Our overdrive for industrialising (the city) has assassinated all rivers, canals, and ponds around us. The air we inhale isn’t what humans should breathe.
Still, we continue to develop our city in the same manner that we’ve been doing in order to be ranked one of the worst. With a great deal of escapism, we still take an “unreal” pride in developing an unreal city! I don’t understand why our eyes are wide shut. I wish we would wake from our unreal slumber so that our other cities don’t become as unreal as Dhaka.
