Hundreds of tonnes of solid wastes lie scattered and uncollected on the roads and lanes of the capital every day, hindering pedestrians’ movement and causing health hazards and environment pollution.
Every day nearly 1500 tonnes of solid wastes are left unattended by the Dhaka South City Corporation and the Dhaka North City Corporation.
At Eskaton, near a school,
there is a city corporation dustbin.
Pedestrians, especially students of the educational institution, every day have to face severe problem because of the reek of scattered wastes by the dustbin.
Samantha Noor, guardian of a student reading in AG Church School, said the city corporations lack adequate initiatives to collect wastes.
They have kept the dustbin in such a place that every day hundreds of school students, their parents and other pedestrians have to use the way.
During another visit, wastes were seen littered along the riverbanks between Kamrangir Char Bridge and second Buriganga Bridge.
Domestic wastes are dumped near Nababganj sluice gate, Shaheed Nagar Balughat, Mina Bazaar Canal near Vhanga Masjid, opposite Mitali Tannery at Hazaribagh, near Companyghat Canal at Dholaipar and many other places from where these wastes are channeled into the river through the canals or sewers.
At Badamtali, the wholesale fruit market is another source from where the wastes are dumped into the river, residents of Badamtali area have alleged.
Dhaka South City Corporation chief waste management officer Sheikh Mohammad Zaved Iqbal said some 2400 tonnes of solid wastes are being generated every day in the DSCC areas.
He said as a huge number of people live in the DSCC areas, it produces huge wastes.
Zaved said they needed more vehicles and equipments to collect all wastes.
At present every day DSCC collects only 1800 tonnes of solid wastes and the rest lies littered on the roads.
Dhaka North City Corporation superintending engineer of waste management division Mesbah Ul karim said some 2200-2500 tonnes of solid wastes are being generated from DNCC areas every day and of it DNCC collects 1,600 tonnes of wastes.
He said that they collect some wastes while some go into the low lying areas of the capital.
Mesbah said they were trying their best to collect wastes but they lacked adequate logistics to overcome the waste management situation.
Paribesh Bachao Andalan chairman Abu Naser Khan said the capital lacked adequate waste management system which caused public nuisance.
Unattended solid wastes like used polythene shopping bags, food packets, coconut shells, household wastes and medical wastes ultimately block drains and canals and cause severe water-logging during monsoon, said Naser.
The green activist blamed the indifference of the two city corporations for the huge amount of uncollected wastes in the city and urged them to stop dumping wastes near water bodies.
Naser said these scattered wastes not only pollute water bodies but also posing serious health hazards.
Health and Hope Hospital managing director Lenin Chowdhury said these uncollected wastes might cause spread of infectious and epidemic diseases.
He said children who live near wastes suffer for chronic fever, diarrhoea, vertigo and typhoid etc.
Lenin said people might suffer for gastrointestinal upset, hepatitis and dysentery also.
However, Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation officials seeking anonymity said that negligence of cleaners was another reason behind the uncollected wastes.
They said that many new types of equipments were added to the waste management wings of the two city corporation offices but waste management system did not improve.
Courtesy of New Age
