Plight of citizens under split DCC

Citizens' hope for better civic amenities under the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) remains largely unfulfilled yet. More frustrating is the fact that the taxpayers do not exactly know to whom they would seek redress of their grievances. The divided corporations are run by unelected administrators. They are appointed after every six months to lead the corporations and provide public service for nearly 15 million populations.
About two years ago the DCC was bifurcated 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 DCC limits. With regard to bifurcation of the DCC, the government felt that one city corporation is hard put to provide civic amenities to the large 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 the 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 including absence of updated voter list. 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.
We find 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 millions of citizens.  
On the other hand, water logging still remains as a major problem with no quick solution in sight. A large number of roads even in posh areas go under ankle to knee deep water during a moderate rain much to the inconvenience of the movement of vehicular traffic as well as pedestrians. Inundation of roads invariably causes acute gridlock.
The activities of the DCC are mainly confined to four major areas - garbage disposal, maintenance of roads and surface drains, street lighting and mosquito control. The services being rendered by the corporations now are far from satisfactory. 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, 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 the major tasks of the DCC.
In the absence of quick disposal of garbage, city dwellers find it difficult to use roads and open spaces in many areas under the DSCC and the DNCC. The twin corporations maintain containers in busy thoroughfares and markets, in addition to old dustbins in densely-populated localities. Many of these containers are found overflowing as wastes are not regularly removed. As a result, road users are forced to bear horrible stench of rotten garbage everyday.
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