Posters still in place 10 days after polls

Ten days have passed after the city election but posters still hanged haphazardly at different locations in Dhaka which the mayoral and councillor candidates put up as part of their campaigns.

City corporation officials said that they were removing the posters still hanging at risky heights and it would be completed soon while environmentalists have been worried since large areas in the city started to be covered by posters that hung on strings.

Waste management wings of the city corporations face challenges to manage the regular waste with the current inadequate manpower while additional waste only create extra pressure on them, they said.

The High Court on January 22 ordered immediate removal of all posters after the Dhaka city polls and proper disposal of them.

The court had also banned printing and using laminated posters in the Dhaka city corporation area.

A huge number of posters were put up this year which pose a challenge for the city corporations as their removal involves a lot of extra work by our people, said Dhaka South City Corporation chief waste management officer Air Commodore Md Zahid Hossain.

‘We have removed all posters from old wards but not more than 60 per cent of the posters were removed from newly merged 18 wards,’ he said on Sunday.

None of the two Dhaka South and North City Corporations has made any assessment as to how many posters were hanged during city elections but a green organisation estimated that about 2,500 tonnes of wastes were produced from the laminated posters during 12 days of Dhaka city election campaigns.

There were 14 mayoral and 735 councillor candidates in the polls of the two cities.

Environment and Social Development Organisation, who came up with the estimation, also said that the 304 million posters were hazardous for public health and environment as the authorities had no mechanism to ensure their disposal.

DNCC chief waste management officer Commodore M Manzur Hossain told New Age that they were removing posters from their jurisdiction with existing manpower.

‘We have removed 98 per cent posters so far till Sunday,’ he claimed.

DNCC’s ward no 48 resident Samiul Hossain said that several posters of councillor candidate Masuduzzaman Mithu were still hanging at Master Para and its adjacent areas.

During visits on Sunday posters of different candidates on strings were seen either hanging from or entangled with electric pole, trees and other structures at Matuail, Donia, Nasirabad and Horirampur.

Again, on Monday posters were seen hanged at Mohammadbagh intersection and Merajnagar of Kadamtoli under Dhaka South City Corporation area. Besides the hanged poster thousands of posters were seen pasted on walls of different areas.

The election commission instructed candidates to remove their poster and banners within three days of the election end.

Residents complained that the posters mostly plastic nominated hanged with electric cable and poles. Roadside drains getting logged as the posters started fallen down on streets and drains.

DSCC officials said that to remove election posters they needed additional Tk 38.6 lakh although DNCC did not have any statistics on the regard.

Both of the city corporations dumped the huge quantity of waste at Matuail and Aminbazar Landfilled with other wastes including kitchen, e-waste and other organic wastes.

DSCC officials said that posters from old 57 wards were removed but from newly merged 18 wards was yet to be completed as there were no waste collectors as yet.

DNCC superintending engineer (waste management) Abul Hasnat Md. Ashraful Alam said that DNCC was removing the posters but could not find any way on how they manage the laminated posters.

‘The posters might be used as fuel of brickfield,’ he said.

On February 2, DSCC mayor-elect Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh declared that all elections posters and banners would be removed within 24 hours while DNCC mayor-elect Atiqul Islam declared to remove poster within three days.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net