Civic amenities now being provided by the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) are far from satisfactory. Two years ago, the DCC was split into DCC (North) and DCC (South) for providing, as per government announcement, improved civic amenities to nearly fifteen million townspeople. The decision to divide the DCC was taken at a cabinet meeting in October, 2011 with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair through an amendment to the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009.
In fact, with the steady influx of people from far-flung areas of the country, the metropolis has now turned into one of the most densely populated cities in the world. At present the city population is spread over an area of 360 sq km within the DCC limits. With regard to bifurcation of the DCC, the government announced that one city corporation is hard put to provide civic amenities to the huge population and that is why it is necessary to divide the corporation into two. Out of the total 92 wards, the DCC (North) consists of 36 wards and the DCC (South) has the rest 56 wards. Tejgaon and Mohammadpur police stations serve as the border line between DCC (North) and DCC (South).
At the time of splitting DCC the government vowed to hold the election to the corporations within 90 days. Administrators were appointed to run the DCC (North) and DCC (South). During this long period since bifurcation, the polls were not held for many complications. It is still uncertain when the elections to two city corporations would take place. The result is more sufferings for the city dwellers because of unelected people running this vital civic bodies.
Roads in many parts of Dhaka city are in bad shape with potholes, craters and depressions abound. Added to this, ceaseless road digging particularly during monsoon for various purposes by public utility agencies has further aggravated the sufferings of the taxpayers.
Let us cite an example. Out of nearly 700 km of roads under DCC (South), the condition of 300 km of roads is poor. Movement of vehicular traffic as well as pedestrians is too risky on these roads. A local Bengali daily in a report published in its issue of December 19 says that Jatrabari-Gulistan Road, Gulistan-Chandkhar Pool Road, Nawabpur Road, Swamibagh-Dayaganj Road under DCC (South) are unfit for movement of vehicles. The road users often fall prey to accidents because of potholes and craters on those thoroughfares.
In posh areas like Gulshan and Baridhara under DCC (North), the roads are in a pitiable condition. Recently the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) dug out the road from Gulshan Circle-1 to Shooting Club for laying water pipes. The DCC (North) failed to repair the road after WASA laid water pipes and left the scene. The Road No 12 at Baridhara awaits emergency repair for quite a long time. The diplomatic zone at Baridhara is inhabited by a large number of foreigners. The condition of roads there is too bad.
The activities of DCC are mainly confined to four major areas - garbage disposal, maintenance of roads and surface drains, street lighting and mosquito control. However, the DCC is not alone responsible for its unsatisfactory performance. Lack of coordination among the agencies providing utility services is largely blamed for the prevailing situation.
Despite efforts taken by the successive governments to establish some sort of close working relationship among utility service-providers like WASA, Titas Gas, telephone department, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and electricity supply, the result is not at all encouraging. As regards conservancy service, the DCC is yet to make any headway in waste disposal. This is one of its major tasks. Slow disposal of garbage, particularly hospital wastes from different parts of the city, poses serious threat to public health.
Many conscious citizens have now come to realise that the bifurcation of the DCC has served no purpose in respect of providing improved civic amenities. Instead, the quality of service to the taxpayers has worsened and no elected authority is there to redress public grievances.
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