Sacrificed animal waste disposal: Good intentions versus ground reality

This incident serves as a prime example of why high-level intentions within the government or an institution fail to manifest at the field level. To ensure the swift removal of sacrificial animal waste, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) hired 275 pickups this year, supplementing its own fleet of 752 waste collection vehicles.

Yet, even a day after Eid-ul-Azha (28 May), waste of animals sacrificed during Qurbani Eid remained scattered across various areas of the capital. Why did this happen? Did all the hired pickups actually participate in the waste disposal operations on Eid day? Prothom Alo investigated to find the answers.

Prior to Eid, it had been decided which hired pickup would operate in which ward of the DNCC. Based on population density and voter turnout, the 54 wards of DNCC are divided into 10 zones. The corporation’s Waste Management Department had also prepared the zone-wise pickup allocation list within the scheduled timeframe. Among these, the lists for four zones (comprising a total of 34 wards) included the names and mobile numbers of the pickup drivers.

Waste disposal and transportation in these four zones were supposed to be carried out by 204 pickups. Within this allocation, the lists for Zones 2 and 4 contained the names and mobile numbers of 90 pickup drivers. Prothom Alo contacted every single mobile number repeatedly on 5, 6, and 7 June. Among them, 35 numbers were found to be switched off, 17 were incorrect, and for 15 numbers, the respective mobile operators stated that they were no longer in use.

Of the remaining 23 mobile numbers, five were temporarily blocked, three could not be connected, and three users did not answer. While 12 individuals were successfully reached via mobile, not a single one of them was a pickup driver. In fact, none of them even bore the names listed in the document, despite sharing the exact same mobile numbers. Notably, six of these 12 individuals were women.

According to the city corporation’s list, a pickup driver named Md. Iliyas was supposed to transport waste in Ward No. 13 (Zone 4) on Eid day. A mobile number was provided alongside his name in the records. However, when this number was contacted, the person on the other end was a man named Mostafa Ali.

Mostafa Ali told Prothom Alo that he resides in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar. Forget driving a pickup, he cannot even ride a motorcycle; he is a farmer. He expressed utter astonishment as to how his mobile number ended up in the city corporation’s official records.

According to the list, an individual named Ibrahim Farazi was supposed to work as a pickup driver in Ward No. 4. When the mobile number listed next to his name was called, a woman answered. She stated that her home is in Shibchar, Madaripur, and that she does not know anyone named Ibrahim Farazi.

When the entire situation was explained to her, she said, “Catch the ones who put my phone number on the list. They will be able to explain how this number got in there.”

In the city corporation’s registry, the name and mobile number of a certain Laden Mia were listed as a pickup driver for Ward No. 5. When that number was contacted, a man named Anwar Hossain answered. He lives in Gazipur and runs a local business. He expressed intense fury over how his mobile number had been included in the list of hired pickup drivers for the city corporation.

Similarly, when the number of driver Hafizul, listed for Ward No. 8, was contacted, a woman answered whose home is in Netrokona.

When the mobile number of Rakib Matabbar, listed as a pickup driver for Ward No. 9, was called, another woman answered, whose home is in Rangpur.

The other seven individuals contacted by phone also expressed their anger, stating that action should be taken against those who included their mobile numbers in the city corporation’s driver list.

According to city corporation sources, a budget of Tk 9,000-10,000 had been allocated for each hired pickup for waste collection on Eid day.

Shafiqul Islam Khan, the Administrator of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), stated that no contractor signed up for the sacrificial waste disposal has been paid their bills yet.

He told Prothom Alo, “If, according to the contract, the contractor did not utilise all the pickups for the waste disposal operations, or committed any other irregularities, strict action will certainly be taken.”

Rimi Construction, a contracting firm, had secured the contract to supply hired pickups and recruit temporary workers for sacrificial waste removal in Zones 2 and 4 of the Dhaka North City Corporation.

Hasan Ahmed, the Operations Manager of the firm, claimed that all pickups had been supplied in accordance with the contract signed with the DNCC.

When confronted with the fact that a verification of the names and mobile numbers of the pickup drivers submitted to the corporation revealed them to be fraudulent, Hasan Ahmed replied that such a thing was highly unlikely.

However, Hasan Ahmed’s claims could not be verified on the ground. Prothom Alo spoke with the owners of five waste collection agencies (commonly known as van services) that collect household waste across various wards in Zones 2 and 4. Additionally, Prothom Alo spoke with three van workers engaged in household waste collection.

Among them, Abu Sayem, the owner of a van service operating in Ward No. 7 of the Mirpur area, told Prothom Alo that he learned on the afternoon before Eid that pickups had been allocated by the Administrator. He had been waiting for the pickup since Eid morning. It was only around 3:30 pm—after nearly 80 per cent of the waste disposal work in his ward had already been completed—that a single pickup finally arrived.

“Only the driver was present in that pickup. There were no labourers. Although the city corporation had stated that three labourers would accompany each pickup to assist with waste collection, not a single one turned up,” Abu Sayem added.

The owners of the other four van services told Prothom Alo that no hired pickup from the city corporation arrived at all on Eid day.

Benazir Ahmed, the Assistant Chief Waste Management Officer for Zone 2 of the DNCC, told Prothom Alo, “We tried to contact everyone (on the list) the day before Eid. Bhai, not a single dump truck or pay-loader mobile number matched. Later, the contractor assured us that we would get the vehicles on time.”

For this Eid-ul-Azha, the DNCC hired vehicles and recruited workers through contractors under three separate packages for sacrificial waste removal. Rakib Enterprise secured the waste disposal contract for Zones 1 and 6–10. Rimi Construction secured the work for Zones 2 and 4, while Dhaka Pacific Limited was awarded the contract for Zones 3 and 5.

Sources within the City Corporation’s Waste Management Wing revealed that the total contract value for the three packages was Tk 13.1 million. Within this allocation, Rakib Enterprise’s contract value was Tk 3.2 million, Rimi Construction’s contract value was Tk 4.5 million, and Pacific’s contract value stood at Tk 5.4 million.

In the city corporation’s records for Zone 1 and Zones 6–10, only the registration numbers of the pickups were listed; there were no drivers’ names or mobile numbers. A total of 71 pickups were supposed to operate across these six zones. For Zones 3 and 5, 114 pickups were allocated on Eid day. The lists for these two zones did include the names and mobile numbers of the pickup drivers. Among these, Prothom Alo verified 27 mobile numbers from the Zone 3 list and 30 from the Zone 5 list.

Out of the 57 mobile numbers, 35 drivers confirmed that they had worked on Eid day. While 15 numbers did not answer when called, the connections were active. The remaining seven mobile numbers were found to be switched off.

At 12:02 pm on the day after Eid (29 May), Prothom Alo Online published a report headlined “Dhaka’s 2 city corporations fail to clear all qurbani waste within 12 hours as promised”.

According to the report, sacrificial waste lay abandoned across various roads, lanes, and by-lanes of DNCC on the morning after Eid. A similar situation was observed in Dhaka South City Corporation area. This occurred despite DNCC’s announcement that Eid day’s sacrificial waste would be cleared within 12 hours, while DSCC had set a target to remove waste within eight hours. Neither declaration was fulfilled.

Two hours after the report was published on Prothom Alo Online, it was learnt that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was touring various areas of the capital to personally inspect the sacrificial animal waste removal operations. On that day (29 May), he drove himself around different parts of the capital for four hours. The prime minister expressed dissatisfaction after witnessing the state of several areas.

Every year, alongside its own fleet, the city corporation hires pickups, dump trucks, pay-loaders, and labourers through tenders to expedite sacrificial waste disposal. This year, over 800 workers were hired.

Two officials from the relevant department of the city corporation told Prothom Alo that during Eid-ul-Azha, contractors generally supply dump trucks (waste-carrying trucks) and pay-loaders (heavy machinery used to clear waste from roads and load it into trucks) according to the agreement. The real issue arises with the supply of pickups. It is an undeniable reality that not all pickups arrive as contracted.

Requesting anonymity, the two officials further stated that regarding the recruitment of temporary staff, some contractors simply present existing van service workers and the city corporation’s own permanent cleaners as newly hired temporary labourers. Consequently, not all workers report for duty on Eid day as per the agreement, leading to irregularities.

Regarding the issue, urban planner Adil Muhammad Khan remarked to Prothom Alo that bringing about a structural change in any system is no easy task.

Recalling that the Prime Minister himself took to the field this year to supervise to ensure that sacrificial waste removal was handled swiftly and properly, he said the DNCC administrator had also deployed additional vehicles and personnel. However, the ground reality in Bangladesh is that even when high-level goodwill exists, it often fails to translate into field-level execution.

According to him, striking oversight and rigorous monitoring by the administrator and senior officials are absolutely crucial to curbing the irregularities and negligence of officers and employees.