Mega city\\\'s many shortcomings

Dhaka city has been ranking 11th in the list of the world's mega cities for quite some years now. But by 2030 it is all set to become the sixth with the addition of another 10 million to its current 17-18 million population. The city attained the status of a mega city - one that is home to at least 10 million people - by 2002. Has the fast growing capital then lived up to its status as a liveable place as well? No, it has not. On the contrary, it has consistently been at the top of the most unliveable urban melting pots on the planet. Then what brings people to the unliveable place? What exactly lures people out of their homes and family surroundings?
Sure enough, it is the economic 'push and pull' factors that are at work in attracting people to the city where people get opportunities to build their fortunes. The push factor definitely points to lack of employment in much of the rest of the country, particularly in villages. Environmental hostility is also one of the single most reasons for migration to the city. Of the total migration to Dhaka's slums seven per cent is due to adverse environment. The southern parts of Barisal division subjected to battering by Aila and Sidr,  two ferocious cyclones, one after another at short intervals has contributed to 20 per cent of the total slum population in the capital.
Urban nightmares unfold mostly because of congestion in the traffic system and poor living conditions in many areas of the city. Dhaka city's slums lack the minimum basic services people need to lead a normal and healthy life. Slum people are exposed to the maximum health risks for several reasons. Then not all are fortunate enough to give labour for some earning. Vested interest groups are behind forming and developing slums on government or disputed lands. Clash of interests among such groups at times leads to razing a well settled slum down to the ground mostly by deliberate torching. This compels at least some of the slum-dwellers to learn the infamous art of musclemanry and other tricks of clandestine trades. The consequence is deterioration of law and order situation. The rise of a few anti-social and underground terrorists has had its breeding ground in slums of the capital.
These are at the lowest level of urban society. At the upper level too, apparently educated and well-stationed people are also to blame for causing the city's environment grievous harms. Muscle-flexing men have unlawfully grabbed lands right and left to reduce the city's plans to a mockery. The latest instance is the city's Detailed Area Plan (DAP). Developers have encroached upon wetlands around the city in violation of the existing laws. Encroachment has been so extensive that the river Buriganga is now under threat of disappearing. At several points, its channel has shrunk, courtesy of encroachment, to a few yards so much so that people use makeshift bamboo bridges to cross the river. Newspapers have been clamouring over the posting of area pillars well inside the river bank but to no effect. A vicious nexus has developed, which is out to strangulate the river today or tomorrow.
Even the lakes like the one located in Gulshan have been subjected to such encroachment. Hatirjheel could not be developed according to the plan because the building built by the garment owners' association right on the channel of the water body has been obstructing its flow.
If this is not enough to make the travails of the Dhakaites complete, there are other manmade problems. No government has yet been successful to relocate the tanneries from Hazaribagh. It is not only an eyesore because of the many defects and deficiencies in processing raw hides but also because of the massive environment and water pollution caused by it. The Buriganga alone has been the worst sufferer on account of untreated effluent released from the tanneries there. This time the government has issued an ultimatum for shifting of factories from Hazaribagh to the new location in Savar. Even then the tannery owners have raised quite a few issues expressly to delay or stall the move. People are watching and will be waiting to see what happens ultimately about the relocation.
Utility services mostly fall short of requirements. True, water and electricity supplies have witnessed some improvement but still many areas have to endure shortages of both these requisites. The overdependence on ground water then has become a cause for serious concern. Because the city is sitting on a fault line of earthquake, this can prove most dangerous for the majority of buildings constructed not according to the quake-tolerant specimens.
A mega city of this size cannot run on transports that are incapable of acting as a mass transit. Although a plan for metro rail has been taken for execution, no one exactly knows when it will be completed. Earlier there was problem for fund. Now there is no such problem in undertaking mega projects. The city's elevation to the sixth position will only exacerbate its living condition if the required infrastructure is not developed to cope with the increased population. But better it would be to plan for decentralisation of administration. Concentrating everything at capital Dhaka will only discourage people to take initiatives for building enterprises and pursue dreams within their known surroundings. So the answer to the problem lies in devolution of opportunities.     
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