Waste disposal a big challenge

Tomorrow is Eid-ul-Azha but the authorities of the 11 city corporations in the country were yet to launch a comprehensive public awareness campaign on the management of waste of sacrificial animals.

Last year, the two city corporations in the capital had launched the awareness campaign much earlier, urging people to slaughter animals only at the designated places. Still, there was some mismanagement and many did not respond to that call, said city dwellers.

Preparations for waste management during this Eid seem scanty and people are not aware, they said.

Babul Hossain, who lives in Mirpur, said he neither heard about any waste management campaign nor know about any designated place for slaughtering animals.

Also, he said he could not sacrifice his animal on the designated spot last year as the place was not suitable for slaughtering.

However, Khaleda Bahar Beauty, councillor for reserved seat for women (Gulshan, Banani, Mohakhali and Badda areas), said last year's awareness drive helped.

But it is true, she said, the public awareness programme this year has not been “comprehensive”.   

According to an August-11 meeting of the city corporations mayors and other high officials at the local government, rural development, 6,233 sites were designated under eleven city corporations and district towns for slaughtering animals.

Of them, 2,943 were in the 11 city corporation areas, including 567 in the Dhaka North City Corporation and 583 in Dhaka South City Corporation.

“There is some inconvenience of slaughtering so many animals at a time at a particular spot and I am not sure how exactly it could be done,” said Beauty.

It requires a lot of manpower and equipment, including mats, rugs and chopping knives, at a time, she said, adding that taking the meat back home sometimes becomes troublesome.

So, the practice of slaughtering animals at building premises would not go away and that is why the city corporation authorities have to teach people how to take care of the blood and waste safely, hygienically and efficiently.

The instructions given to city corporations and municipalities at the August -11 meeting, chaired by the LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, include taking waste management preparations and raising public awareness simultaneously, said the councillor.

Also, a committee on waste collection and removal and cleanliness would have to be formed at every ward, led by a councillor and officials of city corporations as per the directives of the prime minister.

The committee would ask people through texts to bring their cattle to the designated spots at least two weeks before the festival.

City corporations and municipalities would make public the lists of slaughter sites, imams and butchers, and upload them on their respective websites at least 10 days ahead, according to a decision of the meeting.

However, many of the decisions were not implemented until yesterday.

Mesbahul Islam, chief executive officer of Dhaka North City Corporation, a week ago said they would provide marquees, water supply, 824 enlisted imams and 755 butchers, (available on payment), to the city dwellers for slaughtering.

“I do not know exactly,” he said when asked whether they would launch any awareness campaign through the mass media.

They would distribute 2.5 lakh biodegradable bags at cattle markets and through the ward councillors to help collect sacrificial animal wastes.

Over 20,000 tonnes of wastes are estimated to be generated on the Eid-ul-Azha in Dhaka north, he said, adding that they have 150 trucks and an additional 100 would be hired for waste removal.

Along with 3,500 regular cleaners, an additional 3,700 workers would work to clean the city within 48 hours of the slaughtering.

During last year Eid-ul-Azha, the two Dhaka city corporations removed a total of around 45,000 tonnes of wastes with 13,000 workers.

Dhaka South City Corporation held a gathering of waste management workers on August 6 and launched an awareness campaign on September 1.

“We started awareness campaign earlier this year,” Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon told The Daily Star.

Khokon said the number of slaughtering sites was inadequate compared to the number sacrificial animals.

According to the local government minister meeting, the estimated number of sacrificial animals in south city corporation area this year is 2,60,000 while it is over one lakh in north. 

Chief waste management officer of DSCC MK Bakhtiar said 150 trucks and 98 articulated lorries would be used on the Eid day.

An estimated 2.85 lakh sacrificial animals will be slaughtered in Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barisal, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Comilla and the major challenge for the city corporation there would be cleaning some 6,400 tonnes of waste quickly.