The New Nation - Internet Edition

Our Correspondent, Barisal

Condition of health and sanitation in Barisal City Corporation (BCC) area is now the worst. Piles of garbage and wastes on city roads especially the Sadar Road, Fazlul Huq Avenue, Bazar Road, Chawk Bazar, Katpotty, Kawnia Road have created health and sanitation hazards for the half million city dwellers.

BCC sources said, in an average 150 tons of garbage and wastes in a day pile up at different points of the 45 square kilometer areas of the city. At least 20 garbage carrier trucks are needed for removing this huge quantity of wastes. But BCC has only seven garbage carrier trucks out of which only three are in operation while the rest four are lying out of order for long time.

BCC has only fifty personnel equipped with only 25 vans and 30 trolleys. Out of them thirty persons are sweepers, ten jamaddars and the rest ten are drivers, helpers and others. So it is impossible to keep the city clean.

Besides, most of the employees working in this sector of BCC are employed on daily wage basis with per head wage of Tk. 65 a day. Moreover, they are not getting wages for last two months.

The sweepers are instructed to clean the city before dawn. But citizens alleged that the sweepers and garbage carriers do not start working before eight in the morning.

Sewerage and drainage system of the city is often blocked with wastes and so the roads are often flooded with dirty filths. The drains cannot drain out liquid wastes.

In the busy hours, thousands of city dwellers including students, office goers and pedestrians have to pass piles of dirty wastes by covering their nose with handkerchiefs.

Ward commissioner and Mayor in charge Awlad Hussein Dilu, chief administrative officer Mehdi Hasan and health and sanitation officer of BCC Dr. Matiur Rahman said, the existing manpower and carrier capacity are not sufficient for cleaning a city of 45 square kilometers with half million inhabitants. Moreover, the citizens are not habituated to throw garbage in dustbins or selected places within midnight for cleaning before dawn. They often throw those at different places and even after late morning, they added.

The authority has taken steps to repair the garbage carriers, collect more 75 garbage collecting box-van trolleys, construct 50 new dustbins and develop the garbage dumping ground at Marokkhola area of the city.

For this work a tender worth Tk. 10 lakhs would be called on November 13, 2007. Besides, BCC will deploy more manpower in this sector and purchase two garbage carriers at a cost of Tk. 35 lakhs from its own fund, the sources informed.

Advocate Enayet Pir Khan and Dr. Mizanur Rahman, president and member secretary of Nagorik Parishad and Nagorik Samaj, two alliances of the citizens, said a garbage free and clean healthy city is a primary need for the citizen and it became worst in BCC area after up gradation as a city corporation.