The romantic expectation that the unwieldy growth of Dhaka will not have much impact on small towns has been proved a wishful thinking. Many in the capital may have planned to shift to the tranquil ambience of sleepy towns after retirement. But there is a flip side to this scenario. It is mindless rapid urban metamorphosis of small towns lately. But, still, life in the fast growing small towns could be comfortable due to their being free of many age-old urban ills. Apart from the freshness, most of the country's new urban centres have emerged against rural or semi-rural backdrop. While Dhaka and other metropolises are plagued by pollution, the new towns-turned-cities are expected to be free of these environmental ills for quite some time.
Over the last two and half decades, both district and upazila (sub-district) towns across the country have virtually donned the look of cities. A large number of the towns in 64 districts and 493 upazilas of the country can lay claim to their purely urban characters. In spite of the internal migration of large chunks of the population to Dhaka and Chittagong, the formerly backward towns keep growing at a frenzied pace. A number of these urban centres have eventually turned into mini-Dhakas. They have their own big-city appeals with multi-storey apartments and office buildings, shopping malls, traffic-filled roads, and also gridlocks. A number of them have even earned the sobriquets of port-towns owing to their location on the banks of rivers. A few enjoy the status due to a sudden increase in their importance.
Let's pick Ashuganj, a jute trading centre for over a century. Even in the sixties, the only industrial-mechanical activity in the largely quiet market-cum-river-port could be seen in its railway station on the Dhaka-Chittagong-Sylhet line. In the following years, the market neighbourhood saw the establishment of a massive silo and a mega power plant on the bank of the river Meghna. These two structures were soon followed by a large fertiliser factory along the mighty river. Busy Bhairab Bazar port stands on the other side of Meghna. Even then the port remained merely a centre of two industrial installations and a silo, with cautious emergence of concrete structures meant for both residential and office purposes. Ashuganj became an upazila in 1999 with an area of 67.59 square kilometres. It was only after its graduation to a major port in the Bangladesh-India transshipment and connectivity, could it find itself under national and regional focus. Over the last one-and-half decades, the former Ashuganj river-port has emerged as a busy urban centre with rows of high-rises coming up in the earth-filled water bodies and green pastures. Despite its reputation as an ideal place for living, Ashuganj in the near future may have to begin coping with its share of various types of environmental pollution. The popular attraction for Ashuganj stems from its location near the Meghna; so is the case for Narshingdi, a river-port and district headquarters not far from Ashuganj.
The residents of busy small towns do not have to agonise over dearth of civic amenities. Those facilities are in place like those in the large metropolises. Many of these towns have formally been turned into 'cities', and they are run under city corporations with elected mayors heading them. However, aside from the city corporations including that of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna, these previous mofussil towns too have infrastructure like those in the country's big cities. They face many urban ills as well. A lot of them have to cope with their own migrants coming from the surrounding villages. These people include day-labourers, factory workers, secondary and higher secondary students, apart from others in many types of menial jobs.
Like in capital Dhaka, a few of the country's district and divisional towns have set up private universities. They do not have much dearth of students. The students come from the adjoining areas. Besides century-old schools and colleges in many of these towns, a lot of them boast of their newly set up institutions complete with the latest educational facilities. Kindergartens have long reached even the remote villages. The district and upazila towns are veritably filled with these unique children's schools, once exclusive to Dhaka, Chittagong and a few other metropolises. Many types of specialised institutions also operate in these towns.
Regional economies and economic centres have been thriving in the country for decades. They operate parallel to the mainstream national economy; yet the two complement each other. Thanks to the generation of capital locally, trade and business in towns develop typical characters. Local business traditions, social features and patterns of production distinguish regional economies from the national one. In spite of their being under the broader ambit of the government, local economies can function independently. The country's towns include some of our age-old trade centres catering to regional needs.
The rapid change in the look and character of the country's small cities and towns points to the heavy urban pressure on the overburdened metropolises. People, irrespective of classes and education levels, still rush to capital Dhaka for work. But the job market has long been at its receiving end here. Few urban demographic experts bother to realise this. It is only the better performing post-higher secondary students for whom Dhaka is still an attractive destination. For others, it is only disappointment that awaits them in the capital. When it comes to urban amenities and living standards, Dhaka these days doesn't have much to offer except disenchantment for its residents. The aspiring Dhaka-dwellers cannot expect anything better. Mired in the grim, dreary realities that define life in the capital, lots of people back in district and sub-district towns may find it better to stay put there. After all, they are enjoying all kinds of big-city facilities. Barring the highly critical emergencies compelling them to rush for Dhaka hospitals, they can avail medical services locally. A few of the district towns now have well-equipped hospitals. On urgencies, patients in a town or the nearby villages do not have to take the trouble to make arduous trips to Dhaka or Chittagong.
On socio-cultural level, the newly emerged modern towns do not lag behind the big cities. Many new-generation residents here feel self-sufficient. Unlike in the past, they do not have to look wistfully to their 'elder brothers' in the capital for guidance. A lot of the towns have their unique social and cultural forums. District-based group theatre movements have been in operation for long. Literary circles, too, are fully alive in many areas. Local poets and prose-writers do not hanker after recognition from the literary establishment in Dhaka. Editors and writers in many towns publish wonderful journals and little magazines. Literary get-togethers, seminars and conferences are a common spectacle. Regional newspapers play a major role in the structure of the local mass media. Notwithstanding the popular liking for national newspapers published from the capital, local dailies enjoy a special place among the readers. These days, with the fast rise in the use of the information and communication technology, the so-called small towns can keep abreast of the goings-on around the whole world. They are no different from the metropolises.
In spite of the seemingly unbridled growth of these towns of late, the new-age urban centres beckon people to a life of bliss. In the bygone days, people used to living in big cities in the country would dread the thought of settling down in small towns. It sounded like an exile. But times have changed. The age we live in is one of promoting decenralisation and assertion of self-rule. As population keeps growing unabated, big cities crumble under the weight of hundreds of hazards. In this crisis, today's new cities of the country coming up in backwater welcome us with open arms. Exhausted and fed up with the big-city bustle, many among us do not turn the invitation down. Small towns grow into cities, cities become massive metropolises. We cannot stop the march of progress. Yet the speed of development should not be mindless. Romance of the small-town tranquil life is gone. Despite it, in this age of maddening urbanisation, small, comfortable cities could be ideal places to live in.
shihabskr@ymail.com
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
