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Countdown to catastrophe

MD. Asadui lah Khan
Leaving aside the Buriganga and Shitalakhya that now symbolise not life but death, water in the Gulshan, Baridhara and Uttara lakes is now a lifeless receptacle of human wastes, raw sewage and toxic industrial effluents from various industrial units of Tejgaon, Tongi and Badda areas.
WITH potholed roads, noxious fumes, contaminated water and garbage littered all over the city, the picture of Dhaka is grim. Conscious citizens express their concern about the livability of the Dhaka city itself. Undeniably true, the city is now under assault on all fronts -- land, water and air.
Garbage has posed a major threat to health and sanitation of the people in and around the city limits. In many cases, garbage is not picked up in the teeming city suburbs. Filthy water and human excreta along with other wastes in choked drains stagnate throughout the year till the rainy season washes a part of it into the rivers Buriganga, Shitalakhya and adjoining city lakes and wetlands.
Dhaka City Corporation can, at best, pick up half of the 4000 tons of garbage generated daily but their disposal poses further threat to health and sanitation of the citizenry. Nearly one million tones of garbage every year is dumped into public land leaking into the water we drink, mingling with the air we breathe. The rest of the fifty percent of the solid waste generated daily is allowed to decompose and putrefy on the roadside. Quite a substantial part of it goes into the drains, choking them and creating slush and stink all around, besides becoming breeding grounds for diseases. The city dwellers have to live in an environment thick with foul smell coming out from the stinking and clogged underground drains.
The sewerage system is abysmal. It was learnt from Wasa sources that out of 13 lakh cubic metres of sewage generated daily only 50,000 cubic metres could be treated. Reports indicate that the river Buriganga, Shitalakhya, TUrag, Balu and adjoining wetlands including the Gulshan, Banani and Uttara lakes receive an estimated 12 lakh metres of raw sewage and waste water everyday. The river Buriganga has turned into a narrow polluted canal due to illegal encroachments on both banks and indiscriminate disposal of raw sewage, waste and effluents from factories and industries all around
the river. Residents of the city are being slowly poisoned by lead, chromium, cadmium and other hazardous toxic materials leaking from dyeing, textile and iron-smelting factories including the I lazaribagh tannery.
Leaving aside the Buriganga and Shitalakhya that now symbolise not life but death, water in the Gulshan, Baridhara and Uttara lakes is now a lifeless receptacle of human wastes, raw sewage and toxic industrial effluents from various industrial units of Tejgaon, Tongi and Badda areas. According to a study conducted by DoE in the recent past these water bodies carry a bacteria count of about 1200 in place of 200 that is considered to be a tolerable count in water bodies.
As the capital city unfolds, population pressure increases, and industrial concerns expand and the society as a whole prospers, its trash -- mainly hazardous plastic materials and packaging - - including electronic and medical wastes - is growing exponentially. With failure to reprocess waste, Dhaka city is running out of space to dump the growing mountains of garbage. The problem did not result from shortage of money and manpower, but something more -- an appalling lack of will to cleanse the rot in the system that has led to this sorry state. If only the Dhaka city Mayor would make a visit in person to these places he would perhaps understand the depth of the
problem.
People are being forced to buy, eat and consume disease-carrying food. It only speaks of the slothful city corporation activities unyielding to change outdated waste disposal practices that can no longer keep pace with population growth. The densely packed high-rise residential area of Dhanmondi is now bustling with schools, coaching centers, clinics. Shopping malls and community centers, the number of which are way beyond its holding capacity.
Fortunately the informal system of waste recycling works somewhat through rag pickers who are mostly destitute children. But only about 10 percent of the waste could be recycled in this way. With the failure to reprocess the waste, the capital city is running out of space to dump the growing mountains of garbage. Worse, the city's landfills are hotbeds of disease. Moreover medical wastes, mostly toxic from the clinics and pathological laboratories situated in the residential areas are leaking into the neighbourhood and spreading disease and infections.
With commitment and good intention, sometime an impossible task can be accomplished. While preparing to host the 13th SAARC Summit in 2005, this somewhat drab Dhaka turned ecstatic with roads cleared of debris, sidewalks and adjacent buildings decorated and illuminated from airport to Bangabhaban. The garbage heaped
around the street corners were swept away as an army of city corporation workers and other agencies moved in for the beautification work. It was a rare spectacle.
But this intention did not continue after the SAARC leaders left. Our leaders do not work for people. Of late, Dhaka has attained the distinction of being the most polluted city in the world. Unfortunately our city has suffered at the hands of the policy makers. The present AL-led government must take note of the fact that there is a feeling of disgust and disen-
chantment about government policies because of the way the BNP-Jamaat alliance ruled the country during the last five years. The present ruling party must remember that if our cities looked like proper cities instead of slums, and water bodies like rivers and lakes were maintained properly, sewages drained out and villages provided with basic amenities, then there would be continuous support and public participation.
Md AsaduDah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations. BUET.
E-mail: aukhanbd@gmail com