Disorderly development

Dhaka denizens ask, is development being carried out for the people, or are the people there to carry out development? Dhaka city is in the grips of repairs, renovations and development. Roads are being dug up all over, overpasses are being constructed above, there seems to be no end to the upheaval in the capital city. It is difficult to move around the city, accidents occur and the people are suffering. An old man visiting the city tragically fell to his death into an under-construction drain in the city. How much longer will the people have to go through these sufferings?

People no longer accept the rhetoric of all is being done for development. It is not that they deny the need for development, it is a protest against the disorderly development, the negligence towards people’s convenience. Recently, because of violations in the construction code, a girder fell from one of the flyovers and killed a man below. Two were maimed. This was shocking.

Thursday’s Prothom Alo reported on the excessive sufferings of the people due to roads and alleys being dug up in over 500 spots around the city. People are falling into holes, having to walk through mud and dust, and taking inordinate time to travel in their vehicles. The businesses, schools and colleges and even hospitals are being affected due to this state of disorderly development.

We want to draw the attention of the authorities to the roads and footpaths that have been dug up with construction material lying along the only places to walk, at the fact that one months’ work is taking six months time to complete. Why cannot they make the contractors stick to the rules? Why to the service provides not take the suffering of the people into cognizance?

It is seems as if spending the government allocation, pleasing the contractors and publicising the ‘development’ is more important than the welfare of the people. A suffering woman asked in the Prothom Alo report, “Can’t development be done without distressing the people?” When the people are pointing to the glaring glitches in the development work, the government should change its work process.