Rangamati townspeople deprived of civic amenities
Rangamati Municipality with 64.75 square kilometre area and about two lakh inhabitants is plagued with multifarious problems for long.
Although Rangamati Municipality was upgraded to 'A' category in 1998, it has failed to ensure adequate civic amenities for the town dwellers.
Inadequate supply of safe drinking water, lack of sewerage system and public toilets, lack of separate shed for slaughtering animals, insufficient street lights, inadequate recreation park, narrow roads and insufficient space for graveyard are some of the problems affecting the residents.
Rangamati Municipality Mayor Habibur Rahman, who was elected twice, said, “I am working relentlessly to ensure all kinds of civic amenities for my townspeople.”
He, however, said the authority cannot construct public toilets due to lack of land.
The mayor blamed the local 'bazar fund' authority as it often interferes with municipality works, especially during land selection for construction of public toilets.
“Many times we informed the mayor about the urgency of repair of the public toilet at Tabalchhari Bazar. We also submitted an application for the same but no step has been taken,” said Zahir Ahmad Sawdagor, president of Tabalchhari Bazar Committee, adding the existing public toilets have become unfit for use due to lack of renovation.
"There is no specific shed or area for slaughtering animals. Goats and cows are slaughtered on drain or under the common shed of the bazar without any medical test. It causes harm to environment and poses threat of deadly diseases like anthrax," he added.
"On the basis of routine work, our staff often clean existing public toilets," said Mayor Habibur Rahman.
Twenty public toilets were earlier set up in the municipality area but most of those were removed after two to three years of construction due to 'unknown reasons'.
Ramiz Ahmad, a member of the Bazar Committee at Tabalchhari, said there was a public toilet for women at Tabalchhari Bazar, which was removed four months ago.
"We the people of Tabalchhari submitted an application to the ward commissioner for reconstruction of the public toilets but to no effect," he said.
Due to lack of public toilet, floating people and day labourers often respond to the call of nature on open spaces beside roads, drains, canals, even the Kaptai Lake, causing health and sanitation hazards.
Sebabrata Barua, an officer of sanitation and health department of Rangamati Municipality, said, "We often visit different areas to check sanitation situation and restaurants for maintaining hygiene but we have nothing to do if the authority does not set up new public toilet."
Tourists, pedestrians, women, children, elderly people, small shopkeepers and people of low income group like auto-rickshaw drivers, day labourers, hawkers are facing problems due to inadequate public toilet.
Kazi Nazrul Islam, a former chairman of Rangamati Pourasabha, said adequate public toilets along with other civic amenities that were available when Rangamati was a third or second class municipality, are now absent.
Due to lack of sewerage drains, human wastes and garbage of the municipality are thrown directly into the Kaptai Lake everyday.
The inhabitants often face crisis of safe drinking water as the municipality authority failed to set up sufficient potable water points. Most of the municipality dwellers have installed deep tube-well at their residence with own cost.
Moreover, most of the areas become dark soon after evening due to absence of streetlights.
The lone recreation park in the municipality area was leased out for nursery five years ago.
Even, the place reserved for graveyard is not sufficient, locals alleged.
Besides, there is no vehicle for carrying unclaimed dead bodies.
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