Today is Eid-ul-Azha. Animal sacrifice is an inseparable part of this celebration, which is illuminated by the spirit of sacrifice. However, alongside observing this religious obligation, protecting public health and maintaining environmental balance have now become major civic and state responsibilities. Especially in all major cities—including Dhaka and Chattogram—and across every city corporation and municipality, coordinated efforts by both the authorities and citizens are essential to achieve the target of swiftly removing sacrificial waste.
State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam has announced that sacrificial waste across the country must be removed within 12 hours—from 12:00 p.m. on Eid day until 12:00 a.m. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has issued special directives on the matter, further emphasisng the importance of the task. Notably, the country’s major city corporations have accepted this as a challenge. The Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation have set a target of removing waste within 8 hours.
Meanwhile, the Chattogram City Corporation has set an ambitious yet commendable goal of cleaning the city within just 6 hours.
According to statistics, in Dhaka city alone the target is to sacrifice nearly 900,000 animals, which could generate more than 40,000 tons of waste. If this huge volume of waste is not removed quickly, then during the monsoon season rain combined with decomposing waste could create a terrible situation in the cities. It may lead to blocked drainage systems and increase the risk of spreading infectious diseases.
To address this risk, the initiatives taken this year—such as supplying jute bags and increasing the number of sanitation workers and vehicles—are undoubtedly positive steps. The arrangement made by the mayor of Chattogram to use separate trucks for collecting unsold or spoiled raw hides is also highly timely and will play a major role in preventing environmental pollution.
However, this challenge of waste removal cannot be left solely to the city corporations. Public awareness plays the biggest role here. The reluctance to follow government and city corporation requests to slaughter animals at designated locations is a familiar picture for us. Slaughtering animals on roads or in alleyways makes waste collection difficult. Citizens should place animal blood and unwanted remains in designated bags instead of discarding them indiscriminately, and the slaughter area should be cleaned quickly with water and bleaching powder.
Finally, to make this massive waste-removal operation successful, relying only on field-level sanitation workers will not be enough; strict supervision is also necessary. We must remain vigilant so that the joy of Eid does not turn into sorrow because of environmental pollution. Just as it is the responsibility of the authorities to provide waste-free cities, it is also the civic duty of all of us to support that effort. A clean and healthy Eid is possible only through the combination of administrative determination and public awareness.