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A blot on the landscape

Patiya municipality authorities dump garbage along Cig-Cox's Bazar highway

Mohammad Amir Hasan Shahriar, ctg
Garbage piled up beside Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway by Patiya municipality authorities cause sufferings for locals and commuters.
The dumping ground is in Giri Chowdhury Bazar area under Chakrashala Police Station. The ground occupies about 50 metres area by the highway.
The odour emits from the garbage is unbearable, said Mohammad Shahjahan, an employee at a private organisation in Cox's Bazar, who has to travel between Chittagong and Cox's Bazar regularly.
He said, "You can get the bad smell from a long distance. When buses go by the spot, passengers have to close the windows. I have seen kids vomiting due to this smell.
Not only the commuters, but also the farmers working in fields nearby suffer.
The garbage attracts dogs and crows largely. The trash taken to the fields by the animals damages crops, said Hari Ranjan Dey, a vegetable farmer.
The rubbish of whole Patiya municipality has been being dumped here for a long time, locals said. Even after the municipality authorities have been informed of their sufferings several times, no action is yet to be taken, they said.
A local said every day, municipality workers dump trash here and set it on fire. The smoke from the garbage forces them to shut down windows and doors of their houses.
Palash, another local, said, "There are polythene bags among the garbage. The smoke from burning polythene bags causes suffocation to my child."
About setting fire to the trash, Nazmul Huda, deputy director of Department of Environment, said, "It is forbidden to set garbage on fire because it produces carbon monoxide, which is harmful to human health and the environment."
Shafiqul Islam, Patiya upazila health officer, said such smoke could cause diseases like asthma and bronchitis and would worsen the condition of the patients who are already suffering from respiratory diseases.
Inhabitants of Chakrashala village, on the west side of the highway, complained that more babies have been suffering from respiratory problems in recent days due to the odour of the garbage and the smoke
from the burning garbage.
While visiting the spot, this correspondent found that eight large trees at the spot died.
On the death of the trees, Dewan Shahedul Islam Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Patiya Social Forestry Nursery and Training Centre, said, "I have been in the post for three years and I have seen all the trees dying. Trees absorb nutrients and minerals from the soil through the bark.
"If the bark dries up for any reason, or if anyone peels off any portion of the bark from the trunk in a circle, a tree will die. The fire burnt the bark of the trees, which hindered the flow of nutrients and minerals to the branches, so the trees died."
The trees can collapse on the street at any time and it may cause accidents, he added.
Harun-ur-Rashid, mayor of Patiya municipality, said the municipality had taken up a "Municipal Government Services Project” for solving the problem. It also sent a proposal to the ministry concerned for a permanent dumpingyard in 2016.
But the municipality is yet to get any land allocation for the dumping yard, he added.