There is no visible progress of 42 projects planned by Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) late mayor Annisul Huq for a livable Dhaka even after 5 years of his sudden death.
Among 42 projects, Annisul wanted to relocate the Kawran Bazar kitchen market to Jatrabari, Mohakhali and Aminbazar, introduce 4,000 city buses under one umbrella, and construct a food court for the middle and low-income people in Banani.
Although kitchen markets have been set up in Jatrabari, Mohakhali and Aminbazar, Karwan Bazar hasn’t been relocated. The topic of relocation of the market, situated in the hub of the capital, is now limited to the discussion table.
Annisul Huq had details planning to re-establish discipline in mass transports, recover 52 acres of land in Gabtali, along with redesigning of Banani food court.
According to the Planning Division, the late mayor had 42 plans aimed at developing the city. He used to make plans to turn the city into a habitable one by discussing with urban planners and architects. Nonetheless, most of his dreamed projects haven’t been implemented except 10 U-turn projects on Pragati Sarani.
Annisul wanted to build a new food court in Banani where the food would be available to mass people at a reasonable price. Instead, the administration of the incumbent city corporation is planning to construct a 20-storey building in the place where the food court was to be built.
Furthermore, he wanted to introduce a transport service of 4,000 busses to fulfil the demand of millions of city dwellers and made notable progress in executing the plan. But, even after a few years, the project of company-based busses hasn’t been implemented. The authority wasn’t able to make the plan implemented even after holding several meetings with the stakeholders.
After taking responsibility as mayor, he introduced an app named ‘Nagar’ to listen to the complaints of the city residents. The app got a good response among the youth. Surprisingly, it is inactive now.
For mass people, Annisul wanted to build 100 modern public toilets. According to a survey conducted by Wateraid, for more than 50 lakh of people who are on the move on the roads of the city, only 49 public toilets are available and most of these are untidy and not in suitable condition for use with ease.
The late mayor also wanted to distribute five lakh tree saplings through a campaign under DNCC. He inaugurated the ‘Shabuj Dhaka project in May 2016. In its inauguration event, he expected to complete the tree plantation works within 2018. As part of the planning, 29,000 saplings were planted in Uttara. Though the city corporation hasn’t financed the project, he with the assistance of private organisations, carried on the project. However, after his death, the project hasn’t been allotted funds.
Many trucks have been parked illegally on the roads from Satrasta to Tejgaon rail crossing for many years. Hence, it took more than one hour for the vehicles to cross this road of just half a kilometre long. In 2015, Annisul faced protests from truck drivers while removing the occupied road. But, he has been able to free the road in the end.
After the sudden demise of Annisul Huq, some trucks began to park themselves on the road again. It has been seen even last Thursday that trucks and covered vans are haphazardly standing in front of the Tejgaon Bus Stand and rail crossing areas.
Besides the Tejgaon truck terminal, in December 2015 and January 2016, 8 other areas under DNCC, including Gabtali, Kalyanpur, Aminbazar, Mohakhali, Mohammadpur, Abdullahpur bus stands, were freed from illegal occupation. However, the illegal parking incident also began to return in these areas after his death.
Contacted, DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam told the Bangladesh Pratidin that he is working to implement many projects gradually.
“We’ve already implemented 10 U-turn projects planned by late mayor Annisul Huq. Works on company-based bus projects are going on. The design of Kalyanpur Eco Park has been finalised and the process of relocating Kawran Bazar is also going on. We’re taking the necessary steps to make the city more beautiful and habitable. All the projects can’t be finished in a day, but we’re advancing step by step,” he added.
@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 21, 2022 and has been rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque and Golam Rosul.
