With the promise of building a ‘dynamic, beautiful, well-governed and advanced’ Dhaka, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh had assumed the post of South City Corporation mayor on 16 May 2020. Meanwhile four years have passed already. But the problems faced by the city dwellers have not reduced even a bit.
A dynamic city means a city without traffic congestion. A beautiful city means a clean city. And, an advanced city means a city with all the modern citizen services available. None of this is seen in reality though.
To bring back order in public transport, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) had launched a bus service titled ‘Dhaka Nagar Paribahan’ through the bus route rationalisation committee. The bus service was first launched from Ghatarchar in Keraniganj to Kachpur on 26 December 2021. Later the service was extended to two other routes. But, that initiative did not succeed because of the bus owners’ noncooperation.
The responsibility of determining which bus will operate on which route in the city corporation area relies on the city corporation after all. Former mayor of the north city corporation Anisul Haque had become successful by launching unified bus service from Hatirjheel to Gulshan. Why did the two incumbent mayors fail? Did they surrender to the bus owners’ whims then?
For the collection of revenue, Dhaka south city corporation has put at least 57 spots on lease under five areas to collect tolls from buses and minibuses. The matter of extortion in the name of toll collection is no longer a secret.
On the list of livable cities, both city corporations of Dhaka are lying at the bottom. Lastly, the data from Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’s annual survey published on 26 June states that compared to last year Dhaka has stepped back two paces on the list of livable cities around the globe. Apart from this, Dhaka also stands on top of the list of polluted cities and aces in noise pollution as well.
The government gives excuse of the court in other cases. Yet, despite there being a court order they demolished houses of the Harijan community in Mironjilla area without even arranging for alternative residence. People of the Harijan community have been residing in the area since long before the birth of the city corporation. Have the authorities of the south city corporation thought about what situation will be arising if they keep the cleaning activities closed even for a day?
As reported in Prothom Alo on 8 June, the data from the accounts department of the south city corporation states that a revenue of Tk 10.61 billion (1,061 crore) has been collected in the 2023-24 fiscal year. In the 2019-20 fiscal, the organisation had collected Tk 5.14 billion (514 crore) in revenue, in 202-21 fiscal they collected Tk 7.03 billion (703 crore), in 2021-22 fiscal they collected Tk 8.79 billion (879 crore) and in 2022-23 fiscal they collected a revenue of Tk 10.32 billion (1,032 crore).
DSCC makes revenue from 52 different earning sources. Out of them, they have earned the most which is Tk 3.47 (347 crore) from the house tax sector in 2022-23 fiscal. But why the citizen services for the taxpayers are at the level of zero. Despite huge noises being made about rescuing the filled up canals in south city corporation area, the actual work hasn’t progressed that much. As a result many areas submerge under water even from medium rainfall.
The DSCC mayor had taken up a good initiative of removing the bus terminals located inside the city to the suburbs with the goal of eradicating traffic congestion. The construction of terminals is also undergoing at several spots. But as long as that work is not finished, do the people have to suffer because of the traffic congestion? DSCC has claimed to have sprayed extensive amount of medicine in mosquito control. But the gradually increasing dengue outbreak in the past couple of years only proves that they are not coming to any use.