Six out of 12 city corporations yet to take action
Despite the national election being over, thousands of posters and banners of candidates are still hanging across the country, causing potential hazards to the environment.
Out of the 12 city corporations in the country, six have taken steps to remove those, while the other six are still in the planning phase.
Dhaka South City Corporation has tasked its 2,500 waste management staffers to remove the posters.
"The DSCC staff have started removing the posters since 7:00pm today (Monday), and hopefully it will be cleared within the next two days. The posters will be taken to the city's Matuail landfield," Iftikhar Ahmed Chowdhury, chief waste management officer of DSCC, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We will keep the laminated posters separately so that we can recycle those later," he said.
Dhaka North City Corporation also took steps for the removal of posters.
"We do not want this city to look dirty. We do not want visual pollution," said DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam yesterday.
Sayeed Khokon, former DSCC mayor and the MP-elect of Dhaka-6, suggested the city corporation authorities seek assistance from the candidates for poster removal if they lack manpower for the process.
Chattogram City Corporation was a little advanced in this regard, as it issued letters to all councillors and the waste management sections way before the polls to take steps regarding poster removal.
Khaled Mahmud, secretary of CCC, said they are expecting the poster removal to be done within the next two days as well.
Respective authorities of Khulna, Rajshahi, and Rangpur city corporations also started the process of removing posters and expected to get done with it soon.
However, authorities of Barishal, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Gazipur, and Narayanganj city corporations said they would start removing the posters after holding meetings in this regard within a day or two.
"We will discuss the matter with the council and hope to start the process within a couple of days," Nur Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of Sylhet City Corporation, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Mymensingh City Corporation also came up with a similar explanation, but they had no idea where to dump the waste. "We may sell it out to waste collectors," said Mohabbat Ali, MCC's waste management officer.
Meanwhile, Cumilla City Corporation's waste management inspector Alamgir Hossain said they were still waiting for directives to start the process.
In this regard, Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon suggested the systemic removal of the posters and banners, or else it may create environmental hazards.
BAPA General Secretary Alamgir Kabir said, "If the laminated posters are not recycled systemically, then it will create environmental hazards, as roadside people have started collecting them and setting fire to them to save themselves from the cold."
Prof Adil Mohammed Khan of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Jahangirnagar University said city corporation authorities should take immediate steps to remove the posters to bring back the cities' beauty.
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