Mymensingh City Corporation: Wards new, problems old

Among the 12 new wards under Mymensingh City Corporation (MCC), people of three wards (Ward-31, 32, 33), which are on the other side of Brahmaputra river, regularly have to deal with dilapidated roads amid serious waterlogging.  

Development work has not started in these wards, said residents.

On April 2, 2018, the municipality was upgraded to the 12th city corporation in the country. The gazette for MCC, which covers around 91 square kilometres, was published on October 14 that very year.

During monsoon, conditions got way worse in many areas of the wards, due to dilapidated roads.

The road leading to Kachari Ferry Ghat from Joybangla Bazar in Ward-31 is in critical state, as roads have not been repaired for years. Hundreds, including many students, use the road regularly. But only battery-run easy-bikes and motorbikes ply it.

"It's very difficult to travel from Joybangla Bazar to Kachari Ferry Ghat due to innumerable potholes," said Enamul Haque from Char Gobindapur village.

The situation is even more dreadful when a critical patient needs to be carried through the road, said Moazzem Ali, a resident of Char Ishwardia village.

Md Asaduzzaman Jamal, councillor of the ward, said a project of Tk 7 crore has been approved to repair all broken roads. The tender is under process and work will start within a month.

Shambuganj Bazar, a large market in Ward-33, is an important business centre, but there is no sign of development, although Tk 2 crore has been realised as taxes from there per year.

The ward includes Raghurampur, Shambhuganj Bazar and Char Jhaogara.

Even the garbage discarded at the bazaar is not cleaned up regularly, and the place is one of the dirtiest among the city corporation markets, said Alhaj Abdul Haque, a rawhide trader at the bazaar.

Some 150 families have been facing waterlogging at the cattle and rawhide market areas for six months, as there is no sewerage system to drain rainwater, said the trader.

Now a trader must pay Tk 800 for trade licence, which was Tk 300 earlier, but civic amenities have not improved at the bazaar, said traders.

Shahjahan Munir, councillor of the ward, said they are working with utmost sincerity to resolve the issues.

Due to waterlogging, many residents in the ward are living a miserable life, and unplanned construction of buildings and fish cultivation made waterlogging significantly worse this year, claimed the councillor.

Contacted, MCC Mayor Ekramul Haque Titu said several development projects for the new wards are pending with the ministry concerned for approval. After everything gets sorted, necessary development work would start with high priority, he assured.