After small towns change status

Of the total eight divisions of the country, the newly formed ones are fast being transformed into busy urban centres. In terms of the outer look, they appear to be in a competition to emerge like Dhaka, and the larger ones declared divisions long ago as well as later. One would feel like including all four of them in the list. They are Barishal, Mymensingh, Rangpur and Sylhet. They were declared divisional headquarters in 1993, 2015, 2010, and in 1995. All four of these new divisions began their journeys under the new identity in their humble ways. Sylhet had, however, been an important urban centre since long.
Ever since their being declared administrative divisions, people in almost all the headquarters may have started rediscovering their new identities and statuses. It didn't take time to realise their new roles in a new setting. But the irony was the capital Dhaka and the larger cities stood before them as models. The responsible people didn't fail to realise that it was now their duty to help their cities lift up to an upgraded status. Many remained passive observers. They appeared to be just happy with the spectacularly enhanced urban glamour and glitz. Those came in the forms of high-rise buildings, new roads, and also traffic congestions. Few had the faintest idea that lots of unthought-of woes awaited them. They included water-logging during monsoon, uncollected municipal waste, rise in shanty dwellings, slides in law and order etc.
Many of these new divisional cities didn't have effective footpath amenities earlier. It didn't elude the notice of the authorities concerned. They have constructed footpaths in the important city areas. Sadly enough, those cannot be used by the pedestrians. Like seen in the big cities, the footpaths remain almost occupied by the hawkers with their makeshift shops. The pedestrians find few spaces for walking comfortably along the footpaths. They are forced to use the sides of the roads meant for automobiles. Thus road mishaps are becoming a part of life in the changed atmosphere in the earlier district towns. However, the transformation of the 'small town' way of life into that of divisional headquarters has brought with it fruits and benefits for local businesses. With the expansion of the city peripheries, the population witnesses a phenomenal increase. Many people living in the suburban areas close to the new cities, and engaging in various types of trade now find it an opportunity to make the city centres their business hub. Entrepreneurs like those involved in the real estate sector appear to be the most benefited segment. So are the people involved in land purchase and sale, as well as the land brokers. The prices of residential and commercial plots continue to increase without let-up.
The new divisional cities, like Mymensingh, now boast of large multi-storey shopping malls complete with all state-of-the-art facilities. Entrepreneurs in many of the newly emerged cities close to tourist attractions have modern hotels, motels and rest houses in place. New privately-run schools, colleges and specialised universities are becoming integral to these cities. All this ensures easy and hassle-free availability of many administrative measures by the general people living in the district towns under a division. Of the many other benefits, the creation of the new divisions has enabled their inhabitants to avail of the administrative fruits without going to distant places.
Notwithstanding these positive outcomes, the transformation of the four district headquarters into the divisional ones cannot avert its negative aspects. These maladies crop up in the forms of many ills, thanks to the maddening increase in urban rat race and squalor in the areas once considered idyllic.
shihabskr@ymail.com