Unlike in the last three years, the two city corporations of Dhaka this year -- the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) -- have come up with a mixed bag of performance. True to their pre-Eid-ul-Azha promise, their cleaning teams started working to remove the leftover parts of sacrificial animals from the roads in neighbourhoods by 2:00PM. In the DSCC area, many people who have used the frontal road-spaces of their residences have been found washing the blood and other refuses on their own. This is a pointer to the rising awareness of the city residents about cleanliness. A lot of people have used their apartment basements for the ritual of slaughtering animal.
Compared to it, the old and horrifying post-slaughter scenario has been found being re-enacted in some lanes and alleys. Puddles of animal blood and offal parts remained scattered in some of these roads till the evening. The strong stench of rotten blood and intestinal parts filled the air even on the day after Eid. Incredibly, the corporation's supply of bleaching powder this Eid appeared miserably poor. Moreover, the garbage-carrying covered vans too seemed inadequate in number.
The arrangement of designated places for slaughtering animals by DSCC this year seemed disorganised and messy. Some heavy-canvas tents were erected in the middle of the neighbourhood roads. The idea is not practical and wise as the vast sheds with slaughtered animal parts littering a large road space obstructed movement of traffic and pedestrians. A lot of house owners simply avoided the designated places, finding them not convenient enough.
However, the post-'qurbani' scenario has changed remarkably over the last three years. The earlier scenes of Dhaka's garbage bins filled with rotting refuses of slaughtered animals for days appear to be a thing of the past.
Mushfiqur Rahman
North Road, Dhaka
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