Public disposal of garbage

It is bad enough that the piling of garbage on the sides of roads all across the city has now become regularised. But the burning of garbage on the wayside of Sadarghat-Gabtoli Road on the Buriganga in broad daylight, as seen in a photograph published on the front page of this newspaper yesterday, simply takes the level of mismanagement by city planners a step further.

All the smoke and stench diffused from burning garbage on the side of the road is not only undesirable, but is harmful to public health. Why then is garbage being disposed like this? Aren't the authorities at all concerned about the consequences of this on public health?

Dhaka is already suffering from astronomically high levels of air pollution. 37,000 Bangladeshis die every year from diseases related to it, according to the World Health Organisation. Doctors say that the number of patients suffering from chest and respiratory diseases because of air pollutants are also on the rise. Whereas the authorities should proactively work towards reducing air pollution under such circumstances, what we shockingly see is the exact opposite.

Why should the public have to deal with such incompetence? What are city planners doing to address such mismanagement in disposing Dhaka's wastes? These are questions that the authorities need to provide answers to. Furthermore, they must also immediately ensure that the piling and burning of garbage on the waysides is stopped.