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Open garbage containers on streets pollute environment

NOVERA DEEPITA
If one enters the road 15/A, Dhanmondi, he or she would be struck by an abominable odour that comes from the roadside garbage container. Crows are seen eating the smelly pieces of garbage, which makes the condition even worse. Street children collect waste papers from the container while the cleaners of a nearby hospital dump medical waste.
The container lies between the footpath and the road
beside the Ibn Sina Hospital occupying considerably big space, which made the entrance narrow. It is quite impossible for the pedestrians to pass through the way without covering their nose.
Many such open and poorly maintained garbage containers and dustbins are placed on roads in an unplanned manner -- even near hospitals.
Mehzabin Khan of Dhanmondi, who recently took her ailing daughter to the hospital, said, “It is quite unbelievable that such a reputed hospital allows an open garbage container within a few yards of its vicinity. People who go to hospital usually remain anx- ious about their patients; and such unhygienic environment certainly makes them feel worse.”
Md Anisuzzaman, manager (administration) of Ibn Sina Hospital, said, “We have asked the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) authority several times to remove it from this place. A year ago we last made a written application to them. We also have asked the local DCC inspectors about the problems we face. But they have not yet taken any action.”
Anisuzzaman also said the DCC officials say they do not
have any alternative place to relocate it. “We dump the infectious waste at the garbage dumping site in Matuail through the DCC-approved NGO named Prism. But the general wastes are dumped in this container,” he said.
But the DCC officials said they have not received any written complaint from the hospital.
According to the DCC, there are about 400 roadside containers throughout the city for dumping garbage.
Sohel Faruquee, chief conservatory officer of DCC, said: “About 60-70 percent waste of the city is organic which starts to decompose within two
hours, producing bad odour. And the DCC is the only body that cleans up the garbage of the entire city every day.”
The DCC has nothing to do with the smell because the residents do not use bags to dump the garbage in the containers, he said.
“Although DCC has only one third of the needed manpower and a limited budget, we have an organised system for cleaning up the waste in which it is assured that the garbage will be collected from each house by the DCC cleaners to dump it in proper places,” he added.
Asked why the containers are placed improperly, Faruquee said, “These are usually placed at suitable places to ensure that all residences and buildings of the area are covered properly.”
There are some other open and poorly maintained garbage containers and dustbins at Panthapath near Shamorita Hospital, on Jigatola main road, Progoti Sarani in Maddhya Badda, in front of Maghbazar Agora superstore and on Gulshan road-34.
Tahmina Kaiser, a resident of Gulshan Avenue, said, “It is quiet hard to walk through the roads or even take a rickshaw to ride past this garbage con-
tainer [on road-34]. It seems quite unbelievable that a posh area like Gulshan has such an open dustbin.”
According to DCC, there are only three spots to dump all the garbage of Gulshan-1 and 2 areas. The other two spots are on road-62 and road-86.
Asked about the poor maintenance of these containers, a DCC official preferring anonymity said, “We always try to keep these containers clean, although it is not an easy job. Because we don't have any solid waste management system for recycling the garbage,” he said.
“There is hardly any alternative place to change the spots. The local people are not cooperative. They do not want us to remove the garbage containers,” he added.
Another garbage container is placed without proper maintenance on road 6/A beside the Dhanmondi Lake. There is a gate of the park and a restaurant hardly few yards off the container.
Shahnaz Parveen, a Dhanmondi resident, complained about the dustbin: “When the garbage trucks come to collect these containers in the afternoon, we simply cannot keep the window open because of the bad odour. These trucks also seem to take too much time for the loading of the container. Pieces of garbage also keep dropping from the truck while it moves.”
“We don't have those completely special metal-covered trucks like the developed countries. Those trucks cost one and a half crore taka each what we cannot afford because of fund constrains,” said Faruquee, the chief conservatory officer.
Faruquee however admitted that the roadside containers cannot be maintained properly. “Some of these containers have got damaged in day-today use which is quiet natural. To maintain these containers we need more fund.”