Improve drainage system, stop drug peddling

The crises due to poor drainage system, lack of safe drinking water and illegal drug trading in some parts of Old Dhaka have to be resolved immediately, demanded the residents.

The dwellers of Ward No-34 placed the demands when Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon joined a programme at Shuritola Primary School to hear local problems.

They also demanded that more deep tubewells and public toilets be set up and waste management be improved. The residents said there had been a drainage problem in Alubazar and Nazirabazar for a long time. The crisis worsened during monsoon due to waterlogging, they said. Nowadays illegal drug trading is going on unabated in the areas, they added. A resident of the ward said 80 percent of garbage is generated by different factories set up there while the rest by households.

In response to their demands, the mayor said Wasa was entrusted with resolving drainage problem. He assured them of setting up deep tubewells and public toilets on an emergency basis. He urged Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Lalbagh zone), who was also present there, to conduct a two-week special drive against such drug trading.

About garbage management problem at Suritola, the mayor said 100 bins would be set up there shortly. Khokon asked councillor Mir Samir of the ward to take steps to shift factories from the residential areas. In response to it, the ward councillor said he would conduct a survey about the factories and, later, would ask them to leave the residential areas.