DHAKA is the capital city of Bangladesh. It used to be a calm and clean city a few decades ago. But the city has lost most of its beauty due to lack of proper waste disposal system and perpetual traffic congestion. It has now earned the ignominy of one of the top few unliveable cities of the world. In absence of an organized waste disposal system, household wastes are dumped all over the place and industrial wastes are disposed down the rivers or canals. There are some large bins beside some main roads of the city which are mostly without covers as a result of which wastes are scattered around those bins and the entire area is stinking with bad smell which is hazardous to public health. Again, in absence of a proper waste disposal system, the wastes are often washed away by rain into residential areas and make life miserable for the residents. The drainage system of the city is often clogged by polythene and other non-perishable wastes and drains often seen overflowing as the underground system of disposal becomes ineffective in this way.
Happily, the City Corporations have taken the issue of environment into consideration and taken a number of steps to keep pollution under control. Dhaka North City Corporation has taken a few appropriate moves in this direction. One of them is the installation of 5000 removable bins at numerous points of the city. This is a revolutionary attempt to try and keep the city clean and tidy and deserves to be appreciated by the citizens. It is indeed an unprecedented move and as a result of this effort, the environment and air pollution has been reducing appreciably.
Keeping this city clean is not the duty of City Corporation alone. Every citizen should take part in this noble effort. Focus should be given to the protection and proper utilization of these bins. People should be made aware of the benefit of these bins and the importance to resist the increasing environmental degradation of the city. Only then we shall be able to bring back the lost glory of Dhaka City.
Sheikh Mohammad Irshad Hossain
East West University, Dhaka
